Bell Helicopter Textron Canada 407 accident near Croydon, NH
On October 8, 2023, a Bell Helicopter Textron Canada 407 (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Croydon, NH. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- October 8, 2023
- Place
- Croydon, NH
- Aircraft
- Bell Helicopter Textron Canada 407 · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 43.450°N, 72.132°W
- NTSB ID
- 20231009193206
Official records · ERA24FA003
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On October 8, 2023, about 1932 eastern daylight time, a Bell 407 helicopter, N802JR, was involved in an accident near Croydon, New Hampshire. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The helicopter was operated by JBI Helicopter Services under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a positioning flight. According to the operator, on October 6, 2023, the accident pilot, in the accident helicopter, was conducting visual powerline patrols in the region of the accident site. Due to poor weather at the operator’s base near Pembroke, New Hampshire, the pilot elected to land on private property that had a large field and was known to company pilots as a safe area to land should weather prevent their return to base. The pilot was then picked up by car and ended his shift later that afternoon. The accident pilot did not have any scheduled flights for October 7th and was off duty most of the day on October 8th. On the day of the accident, about 1700, management personnel from the operator contacted the accident pilot and detailed an aerial photo mission to be conducted the following day at Quonset State Airport (OQU), North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The accident flight was to be a positioning flight from the off-airport landing site the pilot had landed at on October 6th to OQU, about 115 miles south. According to a family member of the pilot, on the day of the accident, he played golf with friends and planned to reposition the helicopter after golf. Data recovered from an Appareo Vision 1000 Airborne Image Recording System showed that the
Probable cause
The pilot’s loss of control during the initial climb in dark night conditions due to spatial disorientation, which resulted in a steep banking descent into trees and terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s lack of recent night flight experience, improper cockpit lighting settings, and his failure to use the helicopter’s stability augmentation system before and during the unusual atti
More accidents in NH
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Browse: New Hampshire
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
