CEN21FA330 · Robinson R44 II
Skyhawk Aviation Robinson R44 II · Accident: low altitude operation/event while maneuvering
From Elgin, MN to Elgin, MN
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN21FA330
- 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
- 1 · 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 R44 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
- N44BJ
- Operator
- Skyhawk Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Elgin, MNTo Elgin, MN
- Aircraft age
- About 14 years (built 2007)
- 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 137: Agricultural
- 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
- Low altitude operation/event
- 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
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was conducting an aerial application flight in the helicopter. Just before the accident, a witness saw the helicopter completing east and west spray passes over a cornfield. The helicopter flew two consecutive spray passes over power transmission lines that crossed the field, but, on the third spray pass, the helicopter flew underneath the powerlines while heading west. The witness then entered a nearby barn and, shortly thereafter, heard a loud “boom,” and the barn shook momentarily. The witness exited the barn and saw smoke rising from the cornfield. The witness and another person subsequently found the helicopter engulfed in flames.
According to the wreckage debris path through the cornfield, the helicopter was flying to the east when a main rotor blade impacted a powerline that crossed over the field. The powerline at the point of damage was about 28 ft above the ground. The corn crop under the transmission lines was 8 to 10 ft tall. The operator stated that, during aerial application flights, the helicopter was typically flown 10 ft above the crop to ensure optimal spray disbursement. If the 10.75 ft tall helicopter flew 10 ft above the 8 ft high corn crop, then the main rotor system would be at the same elevation as the transmission line. The position of the sun relative to the helicopter at the time of the accident would likely not have impaired the pilot’s ability to see the powerlines as the helicopter flew to the east.
Postaccident examination revealed no evidence of a pre-existing mechanical malfunction or failure that would have prevented normal operation of the helicopter. Thus, it is likely that the pilot decided to intentionally fly the helicopter under the powerlines.
Probable cause
The pilot’s decision to operate the helicopter under powerlines, which resulted in a main rotor blade striking a powerline, causing the helicopter to descend from a low altitude and impact terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN21FA330
- Event ID
- 20210719103513
- Case number
- CEN21FA330
- 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, coordinates, cause areas. 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: ca05ecc8f5c428c2634523f73d830280dc9d2f7b08f89466a67e3a8213f24774; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:32:00.509Z.