The NTSB is faulting the pilot of a Bell 206 that crashed into New York’s East River in 2011, killing three of the four passengers after it experienced an apparent loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE).
The pilot, operating a Part 91 VFR flight, landed at the East 34th Street helipad and hot-loaded four passengers without performing weight and balance calculations or conducting a safety briefing. The NTSB found that the helicopter was likely overweight between 28 and 261 pounds and that the pilot performed a rearward hover departure with a pedal turn into the wind that increased his risk of encountering LTE. He subsequently lost control of the helicopter while transitioning between in-ground and out-of-ground effect hover and spun it into the East River from an altitude of approximately 60 feet above the water. The helicopter rolled over and sank. One back seat passenger died at the scene while the other two later died of injuries relating to near-drowning. The pilot and the front seat passenger survived.
