ATL84FA115 · Sikorsky S-76A
Sikorsky S-76A · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing
From Jim Hamilton L.B. Owens Airport (CUB) to Spartanburg, SC
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL84FA115
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Sikorsky S-76A
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S-76
- 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
- N15479
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jim Hamilton L.B. Owens Airport (CUB), Columbia, SCTo Spartanburg, SC
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Descent, excessive
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, reduced
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Spartanburg, SC, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES DURING A LANDING AT A COMPANY HELIPAD. THE WEATHER WAS IMC WITH LOW CEILINGS AND FOG. THE ACFT HAD BEEN CLEARED FOR A VOR APPROACH MONITORED BY RADAR. THE CO-PLT SPOTTED THE PAD AND CALLED IT OUT TO THE PLT WHO STARTED A STEEP DESCENT. WHILE COMPLETING THE LANDING CHECK THE CO-PLT SENSED A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE OF THE ACFT AND LOOKED OUT. IT APPEARED THE ACFT WAS MOVING BACKWARD AND DOWN. HE YELLED 'WHERE ARE WE GOING?!' THE CAPTAIN ADDED POWER AS THE ACFT ENTERED THE TREES. THE NOSE AND RIGHT GEAR COLLAPSED BUT THE ACFT REMAINED UPRIGHT. THE ROTOR BLADES WERE RUINED BY TREE CONTACT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL84FA115
- Event ID
- 20001214X38938
- Case number
- ATL84FA115
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1984-03-06.
- API snapshot SHA-256: d20d4bdf9e46c9de6ba231adc162ea2709020202ba532d2db007d3123372790d; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:40:27.986Z.