MIA02TA081 · Bell OH-58C
Bell OH-58C · Accident: dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid during takeoff
From Punta Gorda Airport (KPGD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA02TA081
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
- 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
Bell OH-58C
- Aircraft type
- Bell OH-58
- 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
- N107CS
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Punta Gorda Airport (KPGD), Punta Gorda, FLTo 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid
- 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 › Dynamic rollover, encountered
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that the helicopter was positioned on a trailer that was located on the northeast sheriff's department ramp. After the engine start when he pulled "pitch", he felt the right skid pulling downward. He applied right cyclic input to counter the pulling and attempted to set the helicopter back down on the trailer. When he reduced pitch, the helicopter "...immediately let go from whatever was holding it down, and because of the applied right cyclic, the helicopter immediately began to roll to the right." He applied left cyclic which had no effect. The helicopter rolled off the trailer, contacted the ground, and came to rest upright. The main transmission and main rotor system separated from the helicopter. The pilot also stated that he had been trained at performing a couple or three lift offs and landings from the trailer which was purchased from an individual in Wimauma, Florida, and was reportedly designed for an OH-58 helicopter. The accident sequence was video taped on a surveillance camera, a copy of the tape was put on a CD and provided to the NTSB. Examination of the landing platform area of the trailer revealed the outer edges of both sides have an approximately 1.1875 inch high lip extending above the platform; the lip extends the length of the sides. Additionally, four sections of round bar material are welded on top of the lip in four places on the sides of the trailer; two on each side near the ends. The pilot provided a digital photograph taken sometime before the accident date depicting the accident helicopter on the trailer. A review of that photograph revealed tie down straps used to secure the helicopter go over the round bar material. Information provided by the pilot revealed that the landing platform area of the trailer is 95.250 inches wide; the skids measured 90.250 inches from outside edge to outside edge. Additionally, chipped paint was noted on a weld bead located on the left side of the platform near the forward portion where the round bar section was welded to the lip. Examination of the left skid revealed an indentation on the left forward outside portion of the skid.
Probable cause
Dynamic rollover experienced by the pilot while attempting to lift off from a trailer after experiencing skid to trailer contact. A factor in the accident was the inadequate equipment (trailer) which had a 1.1875 inch high lip extending the length of the sides.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA02TA081
- Event ID
- 20020412X00502
- Case number
- MIA02TA081
- 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, coordinates. 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: 1e307e042dd35d124668689b494ae7f7c53ff76fa615e6c947f7496cafb7fdef; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:19:25.959Z.