GAA16CA283 · Robinson Helicopter R44 Raven II
Flying Helicopters Robinson Helicopter R44 Raven II · Accident: abrupt maneuver while taxiing
From Borne, TX (private airstrip) to Kestrel Airpark (1T7)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA16CA283
- 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
- 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 Raven II
- 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
- N921ES
- Operator
- Flying Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Borne, TX (private airstrip)To Kestrel Airpark (1T7), Spring Branch, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 2 years (built 2014)
- 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
- Taxi · into takeoff position
- 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
- Abrupt maneuver
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, he was hover taxiing the helicopter in a confined area, after refueling. He reported there was a large tree to the southwest of his position and a light pole to northeast of his position. He recalled that he began to taxi to the northwest; away from the light pole, but "a significant left quartering wind" about 9 knots gave him "a hard time controlling the tail". He reported that he did not feel that he could turn the nose into the wind in the confined area and decided to climb vertically to avoid obstacles. He reported that he ascended, encountered a wind gust, and the tailboom yawed to the right and struck the light pole. The helicopter descended, impacted the ground, and came to rest on its left side. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, the main and tail rotor systems.
The pilot reported that there were not any mechanical anomalies or malfunctions with any portion of the helicopter that would have prevented normal flight operations.
The nearest weather reporting station was two miles north-northwest. The meteorological aerodrome report about the time of the accident reported the wind was out of 160 degrees true at 11 knots.
FAA-8083-21A, Chap. 11-20 para. 2 states:
Weathercock Stability (120–240°)
In this region, the helicopter attempts to weathervane, or weathercock, its nose into the relative wind. Unless a resisting pedal input is made, the helicopter starts a slow, uncommanded turn either to the right or left, depending upon the wind direction. If the pilot allows a right yaw rate to develop and the tail of the helicopter moves into this region, the yaw rate can accelerate rapidly. In order to avoid the onset of LTE in this downwind condition, it is imperative to maintain positive control of the yaw rate and devote full attention to flying the helicopter.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain helicopter control while hovering in gusting tailwind conditions, resulting in the tailboom striking a light pole and impact with terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA16CA283
- Event ID
- 20160607X23848
- Case number
- GAA16CA283
- 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: 00e7b7e50d08931ce5f26fc8dd94b281389698bf69c29f67f6dee6f7f144c536; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:28:20.094Z.