NYC99FA032 · Eurocopter EC-135-P1
Aerial Films Eurocopter EC-135-P1 · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From Hackensack UMC Palisades Heliport (07NJ) to Essex County Airport (CDW)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC99FA032
- 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
- 0 · 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
Eurocopter EC-135-P1
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter EC-135
- 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
- N44NY
- Operator
- Aerial Films
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hackensack UMC Palisades Heliport (07NJ), North Bergen, NJTo Essex County Airport (CDW), Caldwell, NJ
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Autorotation, initiated
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Powerplant controls, not understood
- Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Newark, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
The pilot flew the helicopter below and behind the flight path of an airliner, and encountered wake turbulence. He inadvertently rolled the throttles to manual, and never restabilized the engines or main rotor rpm. In addition, he did not understand the reset procedures for the engine controls (FADEC), and never returned the engines to FADEC control. After about 2 minutes of flight with several power changes, and a climb of 700 feet, rotor RPM had decreased to 73%. The pilot declared an emergency, reported a double power loss, and ditched the helicopter in a river. A video of the last several seconds of the flight revealed periodic bursts of flames, and bright objects emitted from the rear of the helicopter before it contacted the water. Although the left engine had been overtempted, and experienced turbine failure, the right engine was capable of producing power at water impact. A failed hydraulic line was found in-line with a failed coupling on the tail rotor drive shaft, in an area where a fire had burned. The mfg reported the tail rotor drive shaft could become unstable above 168% Nr, or lower if the mounts were loose or rubber grommets deteriorated. A sound analysis recorded the main rotor momentarily at 125% Nr during the autorotation. A fault code from the right engine FADEC indicated the power turbine had reached 127% Nr. The hanger bearings for the long tail rotor drive shaft had not been retorqued as required after being replaced. Non-mechanic rated pilots had signed off 100-hour inspections, and required inspections from airworthiness directives.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to maintain proper rotor rpm and his improper in flight decision to enter autorotation due to his lack of knowledge of the power plant controls. Factors in the accident were the night conditions and the pilot's improper decision to fly through wake turbulence.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC99FA032
- Event ID
- 20001211X11617
- Case number
- NYC99FA032
- 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: 56d72b196ad19434967abdb5501aa7b12ac862d66fb6457556e1b9acea753604; retrieved 2026-09-21T20:38:27.945Z.