Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cahokia, Illinois 62206
Friday, September 19, 2014 10:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On September 19, 2014, at 1030 central daylight time, N115DD, a Robinson R-22 Beta helicopter, landed hard during a forced landing near the St.Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), Cahokia, Illinois. The commercial rated pilot was not injured. The helicopter was registered to a private corporation and operated by the pilot. No flight plan was filed for the local flight that originated at CPS about 1000.Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight that was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91.
According to the pilot, shortly after he took off the clutch warning light came on. He did not think this was abnormal because the belts will heat up and re-tension themselves causing the light to briefly illuminate. However, as a precaution, and as directed by the manufacturer, he waited to see if the light would go out in 10 seconds. The light did not turn off, so he pulled the clutch circuit breaker and landed immediately in a parking lot. After landing, the pilot locked the controls, got out of the helicopter and looked inside the engine compartment. He did not see anything abnormal. At this point, the pilot said a group of young men, who "didn't look friendly" were waving their arms and saying that he wasn't allowed to land there. The pilot was unable to find his cell phone to call for help, so he elected to get back in the helicopter and make the short flight back to the airport. The pilot then departed and was about 500 yards from landing on runway 5, when the helicopter began to vibrate and "make a lot of noise." The pilot entered an autorotation. He said, "As I slowed and did the flair to land the helicopter yawed to the left as I pulled collective to run it on. I realized there was no tail rotor. The skids contacted the ground and dug into the soft ground.. I think that's when the tail boom lifted and the blade cut it off."
The helicopter was retained for further examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/19/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cahokia |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62206 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 380000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0900000E |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2014 4:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N115DD |
| NTSB Number | CEN14LA517 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BETA |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3494 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1369 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 2 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 30 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1796 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DED AVIATION LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | HAZELWOOD |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 630422312 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | DED AVIATION LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | HAZELWOOD |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 630422312 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2014 4:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |