NTSB ERA24LA045 — 2023-11-15 · Chesterfield, Virginia, United States

Current FAA registration · N26VA

Make / Model: BELL 407
Year of manufacture: 2006 · 17 years old at event
Engine: ROLLS-ROYC 250-C47B (650 hp)
Seats / Engines: 7 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date: 20060315
ADS-B equipped: Yes — Mode-S A27E80

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N26VA Bell 407 None

Probable cause & findings

A hard landing, which resulted in a main rotor strike of the left vertical stablizer.

Factual narrative

The night training flight was conducted using night vision goggles, and a crew change was conducted while helicopter continued to operate. The maneuvers conducted included hovering, straight-in and 180° autorotations to touchdown, hydraulics off flight, and stuck-pedal flight to touchdown. The flight instructor and the two pilots described the maneuvers as smooth and controlled with no hard landings. A post-flight inspection revealed substantial damage to the left vertical stabilizer, and “rub marks and scratches” on the underside of each main rotor blade consistent with main rotor contact. A main rotor strike of the vertical fin likely occurred during a hard landing at the termination of an autoration, but the investigation was unable to determine the specific training event during which the main rotor strike occurred. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

— Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Flight crew
— Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Capability exceeded
— Not determined-Not determined-(general)-(general)-Unknown/Not determined

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_ERA24LA045.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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