NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW85FA207
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
A LOSS OF CONTROL IN FLIGHT FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS.
Factual narrative
THE ATP PILOT WAS PREPARING FOR HIS CFI HELO CHECK FLIGHT. DUAL FLIGHT CONTROLS WERE INSTALLED BEFORE DEPARTURE. THE PASSENGER HAD NO RECORDED FLIGHT EXPERIENCE. ABOUT 8 MINUTES AFTER DEPARTURE THE HELICOPTER'S MAIN ROTOR BLADE STRUCK AND SEVERED THE TAILBOOM. THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED OUT OF CONTROL AND CRASHED IN ABOUT A 135 DEGREE ANGLE OF BANK. THE IN-FLIGHT BREAKUP RESULTED IN A TRAIL OF WRECKAGE AND PERSONAL ARTICLES ABOUT 1200 FEET LONG. EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED EVIDENCE OF MAIN ROTOR BLADE DIVERGENCE, SEVERENCE OF THE TAIL BOOM, AND SEPARATION OF THE MAIN ROTOR MAST AT THE TOP OF THE TRANSMISSION. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF MECHANICAL MALFUNCTION PRIOR TO THE IN-FLIGHT BREAKUP. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1985_FTW85FA207.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Semantic Scholar 2016 · Article (Interacción)
Trajectory Recovery System: Angle of Attack Guidance for Inflight Loss of Control
This paper describes the design and development of an ecological display to aid pilots in the recovery of an In-Flight Loss of Control event due to a Stall (ILOC-S).
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2010 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Approach — Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air 3407 / Continental Connection (Q400) Buffalo NY, February 12, 2009 — 50 fatalities. Definitive investigation of the Colgan 3407 stall-stick-pusher crash on approach to Buffalo.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Quadratic Programming Approach to Flight Envelope Protection Using Control Barrier Functions
Ensuring the safe operation of aerospace systems within their prescribed flight envelope is a fundamental requirement for modern flight control systems.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗