Skip to content

BFO90LA041

1990-05-01 · BROOKNEAL, Virginia, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport OV4

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PREFLIGHT AND IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION. PILOT FATIGUE WAS A RELATED FACTOR.

Factual narrative

AFTER RUNNING OUT OF FUEL, THE HELICOPTER WAS AUTOROTATED INTO A WOODED AREA, RESULTING IN SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. THE PILOT STATED THAT LACK OF SUFFICIENT REST CONTRIBUTED TO FAILING TO RECOGNIZE THAT THE FUEL TANK COULD NOT BE COMPLETELY REFUELED BECAUSE THE AIRCRAFT WAS PARKED ON A SLOPE DURING REFUELING. HE ALSO STATED THAT FATIGUE MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO HIS DECISION TO TRY TO MAKE IT TO THE AIRPORT EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW HE WAS RUNNING OUT OF FUEL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_BFO90LA041.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (pilot fatigue). All research papers