NYC85FA145 · Sikorsky S76A
Raco Helicopters Sikorsky S76A and Cessna 152 · Accident: midair collision while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC85FA145
- 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
- 1 · 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
Aircraft 1 · Sikorsky S76A
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S76
- 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
- N176FJ
- Operator
- Raco Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From MRG · Point Pleasant, NJTo Monmouth Executive Airport (BLM), Belmar, 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
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- N4956B
- Operator
- Jack Spahn
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Monmouth Executive Airport (BLM), Belmar, NJTo 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Vortex turbulence encountered
- 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 › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Visual separation, inadequate
- Pilot of other aircraft › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot of other aircraft › Visual separation, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Belmar, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
DURING TAKEOFF & LANDING PRACTICE FOR A PRE-SOLO PLT THE CFI SAW A HELICOPTER, N176FJ, APPROACHING THE ARPT. N4956B, AT THE TIME OF 1ST SIGHTING, WAS ON A LEFT BASE FOR RWY 3. THE ROTORCRAFT APPARENTLY DID NOT SEE N4956B OR HEAR ANY RADIO CALLS AT THIS UNCONTROLLED ARPT. THE ROTORCRAFT CAME FROM THE SOUTH TO HOVER OVER A POSITION NEAR THE PARALLEL TAXIWAY BY RWY 3. THE HELICOPTER WAS HOVERING & N4956B WAS LIFTING OFF AFTER A TOUCH-&-GO LANDING WHEN IT VEERED TO THE RIGHT AND COLLIDED WITH THE HELICOPTER. WHEN THE CFI WAS REMOVED FROM THE ACFT HE STATED THAT THEY WERE CAUGHT IN THE HELICOPTERS ROTOR VORTEX TURBULENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC85FA145
- Event ID
- 20001214X36887
- Case number
- NYC85FA145
- 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: 2c58d989488b50d60867a8b20ced91d19c7f3cf62bb1a29f12a661fc87e8ad05; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:59:17.285Z.