CEN11FA666 · Robinson Helicopter R44
Robinson Helicopter R44 · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) while maneuvering
From Richmond, MI to Alpena, MI
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN11FA666
- 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
- 2 · 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
- Instrument 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
- N8324F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Richmond, MITo Alpena, 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 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The non-instrument-rated pilot and passenger departed on a cross-country trip; there was no record of the pilot obtaining a weather briefing or filing a flight plan. A witness observed and heard the helicopter flying in and out of low clouds and rain near the tops of trees. Shortly thereafter, he heard noises similar to gunfire, consistent with the helicopter impacting trees. The first identifiable tree strikes were about 500 feet from the main wreckage. Data recovered from a portable global positioning system unit did not show the accident flight; however, the data showed a similar route of flight on multiple previous occasions. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions; the damage was consistent with controlled flight into trees and the ground. Toxicological testing of the pilot revealed the use of multiple drugs that cause sedation, as well as the stimulant cocaine. The multiple sedating medications each have a high likelihood of impairment and their use posed a significant hazard to flight safety.
Probable cause
The non-instrument-rated pilot's decision to continue visual flight into instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into trees and the ground. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's impairment from multiple drugs.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN11FA666
- Event ID
- 20110926X50902
- Case number
- CEN11FA666
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2011-09-24.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3ec3388672c546d5b0025b81070144b8a1e1e04a4fbab1f784fcc834c1058c99; retrieved 2026-09-13T21:52:00.777Z.