CHI04LA047 · Sikorsky S-58JT
Sikorsky S-58JT · Accident: in flight collision with object during landing
From Windsor International Airport (YQG) to Willow Run Airport (KYIP)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI04LA047
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
Sikorsky S-58JT
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S-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
- N598S
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Windsor International Airport (YQG), WINDSOR ONTTo Willow Run Airport (KYIP), Ypsilanti, MI
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- 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
- Pole
- 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 › Became lost/disoriented, inadvertent
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter was destroyed when it impacted light poles and the ground during landing. The pilot stated that he was on a southwest heading to the airport and was cleared to land at the U.S. Customs ramp. The pilot reported that approximately 40 knots airspeed and 70 feet above ground level (agl), "there was an abrupt boom and pitch of the aircraft followed by a right forward rapid decent with a very large horizontal one-to-one out of balance oscillation." The pilot stated that he, "attempted to apply all available collective pitch, which was followed by contact with the ground, followed by rolling and flipping of the aircraft." The pilot reported that after he and the passenger exited the helicopter through a window, they noticed inoperative light poles which stood 70 to 80 feet in height. The light pole that was struck was 45 feet tall and was located at the southwest cargo ramp area near the south end of taxiway D. The light pole is located 4,542 feet south-southwest of the U.S. Customs circle. The light pole is located to the south of runway 09R/27L. The U.S. Customs ramp is located on the west ramp between runways 09R/27L and 09L/27R.
Probable cause
The pilot became disoriented and attempted to land the helicopter at the wrong ramp resulting in his failure to maintain obstacle clearance during the approach. The light poles were a factor to the accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI04LA047
- Event ID
- 20040202X00138
- Case number
- CHI04LA047
- 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: aeeb75e35bc8bcdedf76b6126a2e393a9e6b613d9b56e4e95f23d0983c6dcef1; retrieved 2026-09-18T15:32:23.298Z.