Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Island Mac Arthur Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Islip, New York 11779
Saturday, April 20, 2002 14:44 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While hovering into the wind at 5 to 10 feet agl, the instructor felt a gust of wind push the helicopter to the left and down. The helicopter impacted the ground, rolled onto its left side, and slid several feet before coming to a stop. The instructor was in the left seat and making approximately 70 percent of the control inputs at the time of the accident. The instructor reported he experience no preimpact failures or malfunctions with the helicopter. Examination of the helicopter also revealed no preimpact failures or malfunctions. A weather observation taken at the airport about 12 minutes after the accident recorded the weather as wind 280 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 miles, light rain, and thunderstorms in the vicinity of the airport.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructors failure to maintain aircraft control during a wind gust. A factor in the accident was a sudden gust of wind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/20/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1444 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Islip |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 11779 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 404746N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0730547W |
| Event Location Airport | Long Island Mac Arthur |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ISP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 99 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ISP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 99 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.86 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12369 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Eastern Region Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 20 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1540 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 24 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Farmingdale, NY |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8414H |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA086 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R-22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0355 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1300 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 3 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 22.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 8084.1 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Eastern Helicopters |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ronkonoma |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 11779 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | ISP |
| Departure City | Islip |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1215 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | ISP |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 11 2002 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |