NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DEN87LA204
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
THE ATP PLT WAS FLYING SIGHTSEEING RIDES. THERE WERE TWO ADULTS AND TWO CHILDREN IN THE FOUR PASSENGER HELICOPTER. DENSITY ALTITUDE WAS 10000 FEET. THE ACFT LOST PWR AND THE PLT ABORTED TAKEOFF AND LANDED. AFTER AN ENG RUNUP THE PLT TOOK OFF AGAIN AND THE HELICOPTER WAS BROUGHT TO A HOVER TO RETURN TO THE LOADING AREA. WHILE TURNING, THE TAIL ROTOR STRUCK A FENCE AND WAS SEVERED. THE HELICOPTER MADE AN UNCOMMANDED RIGHT TURN AND THE PLT EXECUTED A HOVERING AUTOROTATION. A POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED EVIDENCE THAT A PLUG WAS MISSING FROM THE INTAKE MANIFOLD. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1987_DEN87LA204.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.