Maverick Helicopter Eurocopter EC130 B4 accident
Eurocopter EC130 B4 · Accident: collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT) during takeoff
From Meadview, AZ to HDN · Henderson, NV
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR10LA481
- 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
Eurocopter EC130 B4
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter EC130
- 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
- N822MH
- Operator
- Maverick Helicopter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Meadview, AZTo HDN · Henderson, NV
- 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
- Takeoff
- Defining eventThe 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
- Collision with terrain/object (non-CFIT)
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The aerial tour flight included a stop at a pre-selected remote landing site. The remote site was equipped with picnic tables and umbrellas for use by the passengers. According to the pilot, this was his third flight of the day, and he landed "closer than usual" to the tables. After the stop, the pilot started the helicopter and picked up into a low hover. He remained in the hover and turned the helicopter to the right in order to slightly delay his departure for another departing helicopter. In close sequence, the pilot noticed a rotor rpm decrease, a loss of tail rotor effectiveness, and a "loud bang" after which he immediately re-landed and shutdown the helicopter. An inspection revealed that the cloth canopy of one of the umbrellas had been partially ingested by the tail rotor, which resulted in substantial damage to the tail rotor, rotor housing, and drive system. The pilot did not report any preaccident problems with the helicopter, and no pre-existing mechanical deficiencies or failures that would have precluded normal operation were observed. Neither the helicopter manufacturer nor the operator provided specific information or recommended guidance regarding operational clearances for the helicopter. The site had no designated or marked landing zones. Pilots were wholly responsible for ensuring the adequacy of the site for their arrivals and departures, as well as for separation from other helicopters in the heavily trafficked area. Although the pilot reported that fatigue was a contributing factor to the accident, there was insufficient evidence to determine whether the pilot was fatigued.
Probable cause
The pilot's distraction with another departing helicopter while maneuvering in a hover for departure, which resulted in his failure to maintain clearance between the tail rotor and an umbrella.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR10LA481
- Event ID
- 20101001X41322
- Case number
- WPR10LA481
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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 2010-10-01.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fa791a8e52f08ff5fb89ad6dde6298328571e5dc2906c40fc666bebe10343053; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:26:28.013Z.