CEN13LA218

Factual narrative

On March 29, 2013, about 1445 eastern daylight time, a Schweizer 269C-1 helicopter, N2065P, experienced a hard landing at the Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL), Cleveland, Ohio. The private pilot was not injured and the helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to and operated by JW Helicopter LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. The local flight departed KBKL at an unknown time. According to information collected by the responding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot did not compensate for the helicopter's descent rate during the flare and the helicopter landed hard. Substantial damage was sustained to the fuselage. The pilot reportedly had accumulated an estimated 80 hours of total time. The pilot had not submitted a completed NTSB Form 6120 prior to the completion of the report. After a local flight, the helicopter landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The postaccident examination of the helicopter did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that the pilot did not maintain awareness of the helicopter's descent rate and airspeed during the landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent rate-Related operating info - C
• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Landing flare-Not specified - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-(general)-Pilot - C