CEN14GA109 · American Eurocopter Corp AS350B3
American Eurocopter Corp AS350B3 · Accident: loss of tail rotor effectiveness while maneuvering
From McAllen Miller International Airport (MFE) to McAllen Miller International Airport (MFE)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN14GA109
- 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
- 0
- 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
- Government
- 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
American Eurocopter Corp AS350B3
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter AS350
- 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
- N3948A
- Operator
- US Customs and Border Protection
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From McAllen Miller International Airport (MFE), McAllen, TXTo McAllen Miller International Airport (MFE), McAllen, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 4 years (built 2010)
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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 · low-altitude flying
- 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
- Loss of tail rotor effectiveness
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that he descended the helicopter from 800 to 150 feet above ground level and then hovered on a southerly heading. The helicopter began to drift to the southeast, so the pilot repositioned the helicopter by making a left climbing turn. The wind was from the southeast with gusts estimated by the flight crewmembers to be 15 to 20 knots. As the helicopter turned left, it experienced a change from a right quartering tailwind to a left quartering tailwind, a flight environment associated with the onset of loss of tail rotor effectiveness. According to the pilot, the helicopter shuddered and spun rapidly left. The pilot applied full right pedal and attempted to accelerate because he believed that he had regained control. However, the helicopter then continued to spin left and subsequently impacted trees and terrain. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, main rotor blades, and tail rotor. The pilot stated that he heard a sound similar to the low rotor rpm horn before impact.
The pilot reported no preimpact anomalies with the helicopter. A postaccident examination of the helicopter and engine revealed no mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The vehicle engine monitoring display (VEMD) recorded an overtorque event and a free turbine overspeed event consistent with the main rotor blades striking the trees and ground and the main gear box coupling separating on impact. The VEMD also recorded a gas generator overspeed event consistent with the engine producing power at the time of impact. The VEMD did not record any preimpact events that would have precluded normal engine operation. On the basis of the evidence, it is likely that the pilot failed to maintain directional control while maneuvering, which resulted in a loss of tail rotor effectiveness.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain directional control while maneuvering, which resulted in a loss of tail rotor effectiveness. Contributing to the accident were the pilot’s limited experience in the operating environment and lack of formal mission training.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN14GA109
- Event ID
- 20140110X63030
- Case number
- CEN14GA109
- 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: 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: 00f1c2eadeb80250ef1c3b2268d779f204ead78241a5454ee1a3f981ae473d82; retrieved 2026-09-15T23:15:16.605Z.