Rotorway JETEXEC N162NH

Summary

On 3 September 2022 at about 22:40 local time, a Rotorway JETEXEC registered N162NH was involved in an accident near Arthur, Kentucky, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 September 2022 at 22:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Arthur, Kentucky, United States

Coordinates

37.1759, -86.1503

Aircraft

Rotorway JETEXEC

Registration

N162NH

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2019

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sturgis → Glasgow

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22FA397

1 person died.

The pilot’s decision to attempt the cross-country flight in thunderstorm conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to obtain a weather briefing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The helicopter pilot was flying a cross-country flight in thunderstorms. The former owner of the helicopter, its new owner, stated they were worried about the weather and tried to talk the pilot into waiting 1 day until the weather improved, however, the pilot did not want to wait and subsequently departed for his home airport. Postaccident examination revealed no anomalies with the engine or airframe that would have precluded normal operation. There was no record of the pilot obtaining a weather briefing and rising terrain led up to the area of the accident. The observations surrounding the time of the accident from the closest official weather station indicated visual flight rules to instrument flight rules conditions, with reflectivity data indicating that thunderstorms were present along the route and at the accident site at the time of the accident. Accordingly, the flight likely encountered reduced visibility and heavy rain while in thunderstorms as a result of the pilot’s decision to fly in thunderstorm conditions. Had the pilot obtained a weather briefing he likely would have had increased his awareness of the severity of the weather conditions along his route of flight and may have elected to delay the flight further until conditions improved.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.