Accidents/NTSB

The FAA said Friday that it’s restricting helicopter operators from offering so-called doors-off tours unless the passengers are equipped with quick-release harnesses. The announcement came five days after five people died when a tour helicopter autorotated into New York’s East River and rolled over. Although the pilot escaped, five passengers apparently drowned because they couldn’t […]

The NTSB issued a Safety Alert (PDF) on Friday reminding general aviation pilots they should calculate weight and balance before every flight. Between 2008 and 2016, the board said, incorrect or neglected performance calculations were cited as a probable cause in 136 GA accident reports. In one-third of those accidents, people died. “Overloading aircraft or […]

The unblinking eye of a video camera caught the dramatic crash landing of a Cessna 210N at Florida’s Kissimmee Airport this week. Although the airplane touched down on a narrow, tree-lined Martin Luther King Boulevard Tuesday afternoon, neither the pilot nor his passenger were seriously injured, according to Kissimmee police. Video footage obtained by WESH […]

As Monday’s tragic helicopter accident in the East River vividly shows, ditching in a rotorcraft is a low-probability, high-consequence event. The reason for this is that helicopters, with their roof-mounted power trains, have a high center of mass and they always turn over, flood quickly and sink. Because of these dismal survival aspects, many helicopters […]

The pilot of a helicopter that autorotated into New York’s East River Sunday evening told investigators that one of the passenger’s bags may have inadvertently bumped the emergency fuel shutoff. The AS350 reported engine failure before it autorotated into the river, appearing to touch down on skid-mounted floats. The pilot, 33-year-old Richard Vance, was the […]

Five people were killed after a tour helicopter autorotated into New York’s East River Sunday evening and turned over after touching down on the water. News reports said the pilot was the sole survivor of the accident. Prior to touching down on the water on inflatable skid floats, the pilot had reported engine trouble to […]

Gail Halvorsen. Some readers will instantly recognize that name, some will search the mists of their memories and others will draw a blank. Which are you? In 1948, Gail Halvorsen was a 27-year-old prematurely balding Air Force transport pilot who gained overnight fame as the beloved Candy Bomber during the Berlin Airlift. At 97, Halvorsen […]

Loss of control continues to be the leading cause of general aviation fatalities, and the NTSB is working to change that. On April 24, the board will host a meeting of experts to discuss the problem and explore solutions. The program, set for April 24 in Washington, D.C., will comprise three roundtable sessions on pilot […]

I just pulled down from a dusty shelf in my office a plaque awarded to me for an important aviation achievement. It was presented to me personally by none other than famed flight test pilot and Collier Trophy winner Scott Crossfield. More on that in a moment. The reason I retrieved it relates to something […]

AVweb’s General Aviation Accident Bulletin is taken from the pages of our sister publication, Aviation Safety magazine and is published twice a month. All the reports listed here are preliminary and include only initial factual findings about crashes. You can learn more about the final probable cause in the NTSB’s web site at www.ntsb.gov. Final […]