NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN13CA238
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the helicopter while making an off-airport landing with a gusty tailwind.
Factual narrative
The purpose of the flight was to count geese as part of the Iowa Department of Natural resources water fowl program. The pilot reported that during the flight the pilot’s side door opened. The pilot stated he was unable to close the door due to the wind, so he decided to make an off airport landing to close and latch the door. He stated that when he initiated a turn the door opened due to the wind, so he continued the flight in a direction that the wind kept the door closed, believing this direction would result in a headwind. The landing sequence was “normal” with some turbulence and windy conditions. The pilot reported the helicopter lost all lift at an altitude of five to ten feet above the ground. The helicopter experienced a hard impact with the ground which resulted in a main rotor blade severing the tail boom. Ground scars indicated the helicopter was on a heading of 165 degrees when it impacted the terrain. The closest weather reporting station, 11 miles away, recorded wind from 20 degrees at 13 knots gusting to 19 knots. The pilot reported there were no mechanical failures/malfunctions of the helicopter. The pilot reported that his door opened during the low-altitude aerial observation flight. The pilot stated that he was unable to close the door in flight due to the wind, so he decided to make an off-airport landing to close and latch the door. He stated that when he initiated a turn, the door opened, so he continued the flight in a direction such that the wind kept the door closed; he believed this direction would result in a headwind. The pilot stated that during the landing, the helicopter lost lift at an altitude of 5 to 10 feet above the ground. The helicopter impacted the ground, which resulted in the main rotor blade severing the tail boom. Ground scars and recorded wind information indicated that the landing was performed with a gusty tailwind. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Tailwind-Effect on operation
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on operation
- C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2013_CEN13CA238.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗