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WPR20CA284

2020-08-23 · LaVerne, California, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport POC

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s delayed decision to initiate a go-around while landing in an unimproved area which resulted in a collision with debris.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that he was conducting cargo and crew shuttle operations in support of firefighting operations. During the approach to a remote landing site that throughout the day had been continuously provided with dust abatement, there was significant dust and small sage type vegetation debris in the air that was kicked up from the helicopter’s rotor wash. The pilot subsequently performed a go-around. During a post-flight inspection, substantial damage to the tail rotor was discovered. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot
  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Debris/dirt/foreign object-Effect on equipment
  • — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_WPR20CA284.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (go-around). All research papers