NYC03LA133 · MBB BO-105C
MBB BO-105C · Accident during initial climb
From Heussler Hamburg Heliport (O01) to Colden, NY (no airport)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC03LA133
- 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
- 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
MBB BO-105C
- Aircraft type
- MBB BO-105
- 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
- N105SJ
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Heussler Hamburg Heliport (O01), Buffalo, NYTo Colden, NY (no airport)
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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 › In-flight planning/decision, improper
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 departed with his crew for a medical pickup flight in a helicopter. Passing through about 200 to 300 feet, the pilot perceived a power loss. The paramedic seated in the left seat reported that he called the pilot's attention to the collective as the helicopter descended and the pilot grabbed the collective. The paramedic reported that the descent stopped abruptly, and then continued as the pilot lowered the collective. The pilot reported that although there were no indications of an engine problem and the needles were not split, he sensed that the engines were not responding to the movement of the collective, and he lowered the collective to set up for an autorotation. The helicopter struck the ground, and slid for a short distance. It then became airborne, as it passed through a gate in a fence, the tail rotor struck the right side of the fence and the tail rotor and tail boom separated from the helicopter. The helicopter continued in the air for about 200 feet, spinning as it traveled forward. Ground impact marks consistent with main rotor impact were found about 200 feet from where the tail rotor separated from the helicopter. The helicopter came to rest about 50 feet beyond the main rotor blade marks. Examination of the helicopter revealed damage consistent with the engines operating at impact. No evidence of any malfunctions were found with the engines or airframe. Fuel was found in both engines. In addition, the collective friction was loose, and the last pilot to fly the helicopter before the accident flight reported he left the collective friction loose. In a follow-up interview, the pilot reported he had not checked the collective friction prior to takeoff, but thought it was OK. He had no direct memory of taking his hand off the collective, but the paramedic reported that the position of the pilot's arm was consistent with his hand being off the collective. When questioned if he had misinterpreted a lowering collective for a power loss, the pilot replied, "I can't say I didn't, maybe I did."
Probable cause
The pilot's improper interpretation of a descent as a power loss and subsequent decision to autorotate, which resulted in a hard landing. A factor in the accident was the collective friction.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC03LA133
- Event ID
- 20030710X01050
- Case number
- NYC03LA133
- 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: a536c7e88d89490d62102d77bf9b7a6142af0afd3d3473dae6e4def25e41d5d9; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:27:12.746Z.