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🚁 A tour helicopter crashed at Destin Executive Airport last month due to a loose bolt, according to a new NTSB report.
🧰 Investigators found other bolts were only hand-tight, and the helicopter suffered major damage, though all passengers survived.
🕵️ While the operator wasn’t named, officials confirmed Timberview Helicopters is the only tour provider based at the airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its report on the crash that occurred at Destin Executive Airport involving a tour helicopter last month.
In the report, the investigator stated that a bolt from the cyclic servo had backed out and fallen off of the connecting rod. The bolt was located inside the wreckage. Other bolts were found to be only hand-tight.
Higgins Leasing Inc., a company from The Woodlands, Texas, leased the helicopter.
The NTSB pointed out that the crash inflicted substantial damage on the Robinson R 66 turbine helicopter, but that none of the three passengers were killed. The NTSB preliminary accident report noted two people had minor injuries and one escaped unharmed.
“The pilot stated that the accident flight was the fourth air tour flight of the day. After takeoff, during the transition to flight about 15 feet above the ground, he heard a pop and the helicopter made a heart-shaped nose dive into the ground. He applied the left stick, but nothing happened.” The report continues, “the helicopter impacted the ground on its right side and shattered the windshield. The main rotor blades fractured into pieces. The tail rotor and tail boom fractured off the helicopter, and we’re located about 25 feet behind the main wreckage.”
None of the reports stated what company operated the helicopter. We reached out to the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, which operates Destin Executive Airport, about the helicopter tour operators at the airport. They say the only operator working out of Destin Executive Airport is Timberview Helicopters.
Timberview Helicopters is a helicopter tour operator that flies helicopters in Florida and Texas, according to its website.
We called Timberview Helicopters’ phone number and spoke to an unidentified representative, who confirmed that the crash involved one of their helicopters last month.
She informed us that she would contact the chief pilot of the organization and arrange for someone to get in touch with us regarding the incident. When they do so, we will update the story here with their comments about the crash.
Reports dating back ten years show several incidents in Florida involving the company. The NTSB investigated crashes in 2012, 2015, and 2019. None of these accidents resulted in fatalities, though some of them had injuries.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the current fatality rate for helicopter rides is low, at around 0.69 fatalities per 100,000 flight hours, which is lower than the Bureau’s fatality rate in 2015 for general aviation, 1.8 per 100,000 flight hours.
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