NYC08FA026 · Robinson Helicopter R44
Robinson Helicopter R44 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Jamestown, TN to Livingston Municipal Airport (8A3)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC08FA026
- 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
- 3 · 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
Robinson Helicopter R44
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R44
- 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
- N8356C
- Operator
- Fly-N-Dollar
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jamestown, TNTo Livingston Municipal Airport (8A3), Livingston, TN
- 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
- 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
- Wire, transmission
- 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 › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter had performed two approaches to the creek bed earlier in the day. The creek bed was bordered by wooded, steep terrain on both sides, and a four-strand set of power lines crossed the creek perpendicular to the direction of travel. The wires and their proximity to the landing site in the creek were discussed with the pilot, both by passengers in the helicopter while in flight and with witnesses around the landing site. During the third takeoff from the creek bed, the helicopter climbed beneath the wires, and then reversed direction and collided with the lowest wire in the set. The helicopter then descended into the trees, collided with terrain, and caught fire. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any mechanical deficiencies. Examination of the rotorhead revealed a large diameter metal cable was coiled around the mast and swashplate, and wrapped over the rotorhead and blade grips.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from a known wire hazard during takeoff.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC08FA026
- Event ID
- 20071119X01805
- Case number
- NYC08FA026
- 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: 84469c7f84d2d3706e5fa954931a54c0e15c58ada6c99e0046e888338d8a81fa; retrieved 2026-09-20T16:07:59.905Z.