NTSB Identification: CEN12CA484
14 CFR Part 137: Agricultural
Accident occurred Friday, July 27, 2012 in Austin, IN
Probable Cause Approval Date: 11/26/2012
Aircraft: BELL 47G-2A, registration: N652HA
Injuries: 1 Serious.
NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The pilot was on his third aerial application pass when he momentarily glanced over at his global positioning system and the left spray boom struck the ground. The pilot said the spray boom wiggled back and forth before it folded back into the tailboom. The helicopter then began to spin to the right, and the pilot initiated an autorotation. The helicopter landed hard but remained upright. Examination of the helicopter revealed the spray boom, tail rotor, and tail rotor gear box had completely separated from the airframe. The fuselage and main rotor blades were also damaged. The operator reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot did not maintain clearance from terrain during a low-level aerial application flight and lost control of the helicopter.
The pilot was on his third aerial application pass when he momentarily glanced over at his global positioning system (GPS) and the left spray boom struck the ground. The pilot said the spray boom wiggled back and forth before it folded back into the tail boom. The helicopter then began to spin to the right and he initiated an autorotation. The helicopter landed hard but remained upright. Examination of the helicopter revealed the spray boom, tail rotor and tail rotor gear box had completely separated from the airframe. The fuselage and main rotor blades were also damaged. The operator reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies prior to the accident.
The pilot of a crop-dusting helicopter that crashed in Southern Indiana complained of back pain, but otherwise appeared uninjured, said Dave Bell, director of emergency management in Jefferson County, Ind.
The pilot of a crop-dusting helicopter that crashed in Southern Indiana complained of back pain, but otherwise appeared uninjured, said Dave Bell, director of emergency management in Jefferson County, Ind.
“He appeared to be just fine,” Bell said.
The pilot, 35-year-old Kevin C. Rossan of Troy, Mich., was taken to The King’s Daughters Hospital in Madison, Ind. He was the only person in the helicopter.
He was turning to make another pass on some crops when a gust of wind caught his helicopter and caused a blade to hit the ground, Bell said. Crop-dusting helicopters often fly low.
The incident occurred near State Road 256 and State Road 3 between Kent and Deputy, Ind., east of Madison.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were on their way to investigate.
The helicopter belonged to Crop Specialties, of Pennsylvania, Bell said.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ind. -- A man was seriously injured early Friday when the helicopter he was flying crashed into a southern Indiana soybean field.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said the crash happened about 7:40 a.m. when the pilot, Kevin Rossan, 35, of Michigan, was flying a helicopter crop duster spraying chemicals on a field east of State Road 3, near Deputy, about 35 miles north of Louisville, Ky.
Rossan was rushed to King’s Daughters' Hospital in Madison with serious injuries.
The cause of the crash is under investigation by the FAA, but investigators think winds tipped its blades into the ground. Rossan was the only person on the aircraft, which was owned by a Pennsylvania company.
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