IAD98FA049 · Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 · Accident: abrupt maneuver while maneuvering
From Easton Airport / Newnam Field (ESN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- IAD98FA049
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
- Aircraft type
- Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1345Q
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Easton Airport / Newnam Field (ESN), Easton, MDTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering · hover out of ground effect
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Abrupt maneuver
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Mast bumping, initiated
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The two pilots departed on a local flight to photograph waterfront real estate. Witnesses described the helicopter performing abrupt maneuvers at low level near their homes. A witness in close proximity to the accident site said, 'The rotor flew off and the blade hit the cabin side...It was at a hover. The nose angled up, the rotor hit the cabin, and the person came out. The nose pitched up before the blade hit the cabin...There was engine noise all along.' The main rotor hub and blade assembly, with the top portion of the main rotor mast attached, was located approximately 190 feet prior to the main wreckage. The mast fracture was aligned with the bottom of the hub at the static stops and the mast exhibited overload fractures with no evidence of fatigue. No historical records existed for the helicopter. Examination of records revealed the annual inspection and airworthiness certificate were signed and produced by an unqualified person. The owner/operator signed off overhaul of time limited components with no evidence of work performed. Examination of the master caution annunciator panel revealed that the PRIMARY HYDRAULICS and MAIN GENERATOR segments had no light bulbs installed. Examination of NTSB accident records revealed the helicopter was 'demolished' and de-registered after an accident in 1988.
Probable cause
The pilot's abrupt, low-g maneuver, which resulted in mast bumping and separation of the main rotor system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record IAD98FA049
- Event ID
- 20001211X09878
- Case number
- IAD98FA049
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3f2a36982a4d4630b37d08809ae186fa149bfeeca91e3baede7de82e60a43cb4; retrieved 2026-09-20T22:36:38.763Z.