Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Smoketown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Smoketown, Pennsylvania 17576
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 20:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot/owner/builder of the experimental amateur-built helicopter, he had recently finished performing maintenance on the helicopter, which included tracking its rotor system. He then positioned the helicopter in front of his hangar and proceeded to perform an operational check, before attempting to hover the helicopter. Immediately upon entering the hover, the pilot felt a large amount of vibration in the cyclic control and the helicopter began moving to the left. The pilot pushed the cyclic control right in an effort to stop the left movement of the helicopter, but the control input was ineffective. The pilot then increased the helicopter’s altitude to avoid a collision with nearby obstacles and attempted to maneuver to an open grass area. Realizing that the rotor rpm had decayed, he reduced the collective pitch and increased engine power. The helicopter then entered a settling-with-power flight condition and impacted a taxiway located between two hangars.
During a telephone interview conducted about 2 weeks after the accident, the pilot stated that the loss of control that precipitated the accident was most likely due to improper tracking of the helicopter’s main rotor blades, related to the method of leveling the blades he had used during the helicopter’s most recent maintenance.
A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the cyclic control cross tube had separated from its attachment point at the left side of the fuselage, adjacent to a break in a repair weld of the fuselage’s tubular frame. Detailed examination of the fracture surface revealed that while the weld was of a generally poor quality, the fracture exhibited features consistent with a failure in bending overload. Given the nature of the failure, it is most likely that the weld fractured during the impact sequence.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of control during a post-maintenance test flight due to improper tracking of the helicopter’s main rotor blades by the pilot/aircraft builder.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/30/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2010 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Smoketown |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 17576 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 400224N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0761206W |
| Event Location Airport | Smoketown Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S37 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 370 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LNS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 403 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KLNS 302353Z 21004KT 10SM CLR 24/16 A2973 RM |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32360 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 4 2014 2:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8707E |
| NTSB Number | ERA12LA373 |
| 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 | FALTIN JOHN R |
| Aircraft Model | ROTORWAY EXEC 162F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | F6203 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 6 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 200 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FALTIN JOHN R |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1771 WINDY HILL RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | LANCASTER |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 17602-1353 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | FALTIN JOHN R |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1771 WINDY HILL RD |
| Operator City | LANCASTER |
| Operator State | PA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 17602-1353 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | S37 |
| Departure City | Smoketown |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2010 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | S37 |
| Destination City | Smoketown |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 4 2014 2:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |