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NTSB AND TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY IMAGE


The investigation


determined that the power-line poles, which would have


signaled to the pilots the presence of


wires, were obscured from view by trees.


Georgetown, Temple, or Taylor airports, with the transi- tions between them flown 200 ft. to 300 ft. above ground level (agl).


The Operator


At the time of the accident, the contractor had one part- time and seven full-time employees and operated three helicopters, one owned and two leased. In 2015, it acquired Part 133, 135, and 137 operating certificates by purchasing the prior certificate holder. An estimated 80% of its business was done with the US Department of Defense, for which it provided “niche training for … allied foreign nation partners.” It also conducted low-altitude operations such as feral hog eradication for local clients.


The Pilots The 58-year-old instructor entered US Army helicopter school in 1989 and served as a pilot and instructor until retiring in 2003–04. His assignments had included “long- range navigation and precision aerial gunnery” as an attack helicopter pilot for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. After leaving the army, he continued flying for private operators in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2017, he was recruited by the contractor’s chief operating officer (COO), with whom he’d served in the 2nd Ranger Battalion in 1981.


64 ROTOR SEPTEMBER 2021


The COO described the instructor as “a perfectionist … who always flew ‘by the book.’” Trainees commended his “strictness and discipline” to the point of reprimand- ing a pilot who descended from 600 ft. to 580 ft. without permission. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) estimated that he had about 7,000 hours of career flight experience, 700 of them in the Hughes 369. He was assistant program manager for the Jordanian contract. The trainee pilot was a 27-year-old first lieutenant, rated as second-in-command, who’d completed the same course the year before. The NTSB reported that about 1,000 of his estimated 2,000 hours of total flight time were in the same or comparable models.


The Flight The instructor requested VFR departure to the northeast at 12:07 pm and was cleared for takeoff. About one min- ute after departure, he requested a frequency change. There were no further communications from the aircraft. A resident at his home about 2 miles southwest of


the town of Granger heard an approaching helicopter. Rotorcraft traffic in the vicinity was not unusual, but this one was “unusually loud.” He turned to see a black heli- copter approaching quickly from the northwest, flying 30 ft. to 40 ft. above a field in a nose-low attitude. The resident became concerned the aircraft might hit


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