Inadequate Operator Inspections, Lax FAA Oversight Led to West Virginia Helicopter Crash
The helicopter in its final resting location. NTSB Photo
WASHINGTON (August 27, 2024) — The National Transportation Safety Board found Tuesday that a West Virginia former military helicopter crash that killed six was caused in part by the operator’s inadequate inspections and a lack of FAA oversight.
The June 22, 2022, crash of a Bell Helicopter UH-1B in Amherstdale, West Virginia, occurred after the rotorcraft hit powerlines during an attempted forced landing after a loss of engine power. Investigators determined the loss of power was due to the failure of an engine component. The NTSB said the helicopter’s operator, MARPAT Aviation, would likely have discovered the fatigue cracks and other engine damage that led to the failure of the engine component had it done more comprehensive inspections of the UH-1B helicopter, also known as a “Huey.”
MARPAT Aviation sponsored the annual “Huey Reunion” event at Logan County Airport, where it offered members of the public the opportunity to fly the former military helicopter with a “safety pilot” for a required payment. Members of the public could also ride aboard the helicopter for a smaller payment. The accident flight was the last scheduled flight of the day on the second day of the event. All six helicopter occupants died in the crash.
The NTSB said the FAA provided “basically no oversight” of MARPAT Aviation. The NTSB noted that the FAA lacked guidance for inspectors to perform routine surveillance of operators with experimental airworthiness certificates.
The FAA had issued a special airworthiness certificate for the helicopter in the “experimental exhibition” category in December 2014. The NTSB said that the FAA should not have allowed the helicopter to be inspected and maintained according to the requirements that were in place at the time, which were insufficient to ensure the airworthiness of the aircraft and operation.
Although the FAA’s inspection requirements for former military aircraft were revised in February 2015, the operator was not required to employ the more robust inspection standards because those requirements were not in effect when the helicopter’s most recent airworthiness certificate was issued. The NTSB recommended that other aircraft in the experimental exhibition category be maintained with the most recent iteration of the inspection standards, the latest of which is dated July 2017.
MARPAT Aviation had previously inspected and maintained the accident helicopter to more comprehensive inspection standards when it was operated under a restricted-category airworthiness certificate, most recently between October 2013 and December 2014. Even though the operator wasn’t required to continue to use the more stringent inspection standards, the NTSB said that “MARPAT Aviation’s decision not to use more rigorous inspection standards when the helicopter was operated under an experimental category certificate was also a factor that led to the accident.”
As a result of the investigation, the NTSB made six new safety recommendations to the FAA and reiterated one more.
Aviation Investigation Report AIR-24-04 is available online.
To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).
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