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ATL92LA075 · Kaman HH-43F

9 Apr 1992 · Manteo, NC, United States

Precision Lift Kaman HH-43F · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering

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Event

NTSB case
ATL92LA075
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

Kaman HH-43F

Aircraft type
Kaman HH-43
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
N100PL
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
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
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Flight controls, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Tail rotor/anti-torque control, inadvertent activation

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE HELICOPTER WAS BEING USED IN FIRE FIGHTING OPERATIONS. A WATER BUCKET WAS ATTACHED TO THE EXTERNAL HOOK. A HOVER LANDING WAS BEING ATTEMPTED ON AN ALUMINUM MAT HELIPAD. THE PAD SLOPED DOWNHILL, INTO THE WIND. WIND GUSTS WERE HIGH. TO PRECLUDE DAMAGE TO THE HELICOPTER FROM THE WATER BUCKET, THE HELICOPTER HAD TO BE HOVERED AND LANDED BEHIND THE BUCKET, AFTER THE BUCKET HAD BEEN PLACED ON THE PAD. ALSO, THE HELICOPTER WOULD ROLL 18' TO ONE FOOT AFTER TOUCH DOWN. WHILE HOLDING THE WHEEL BRAKE PEDAL, SLIGHT ANTI-TORQUE CONTROL INPUT WAS MADE. COUPLED WITH THE CROSSWIND CONTROL INPUT, MAST BUMPS RESULTED. ON THE FIFTH LANDING ATTEMPT, ONE MAIN ROTOR BLADE CONTACTED ONE OF THE VERTICAL STABILIZERS, WHICH SEPARATED THE CONTROL TAB FROM THE BLADE. THE PILOT REDUCED ENGINE POWER & ALLOWED THE HELICOPTER TO SETTLE TO THE GROUND.

Probable cause

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER USE OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS, IN THAT HE INADVERTENTLY ACTIVATED THE TAIL ROTOR PEDALS. FACTORS IN THE ACCIDENT WERE THE CROSS WIND, AND THE SLOPE OF THE LANDING AREA.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL92LA075
Event ID
20001211X14373
Case number
ATL92LA075
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: f73aa53ef9dfb134fa91ea9120eff659df3e554ff2459fd5689e4c73ffb096cc; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:14:47.101Z.