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| Title: | Landing gear collapse, Aircraft Accident Report, New York Airways, Inc. Sikorsky S-61L, N619PA, Pan Am Building Heliport, New York, New York, May 16, 1977 |
| Micro summary: | The landing gear of this helicopter collapsed while the engine was running. |
| Event Time: | 1977-05-16 at 1735 EDT |
| File Name: | 1977-05-16-US.pdf |
| Publishing Agency: | National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) |
| Publishing Country: | USA |
| Report number: | NTSB-AAR-77-8 |
| Pages: | 34 |
| Site of event: | Tp of the Pan Am Building |
| Departure: | Pan American Building Heliport, New York, New York, USA |
| Destination: | John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York, USA |
| Airplane Type(s): | Sikorsky S-61L |
| Flight Phase: | Parked |
| Registration(s): | N619PA |
| Operator(s): | New York Airways |
| Type of flight: | Revenue |
| Occupants: | 23 |
| Fatalities: | 4 |
| Serious Injuries: | 1 |
| Minor/Non-Injured: | 18 |
| Other Injuries: | 4 |
| Executive Summary: | About 1735 e.d.t. on May 16, 1977, the right landing gear of a New York Airways, Inc., Sikorsky Model S-61L helicopter, N619PA, failed while the aircraft was parked, with rotors turning, on the rooftop heliport of the Pan Am Building in New York, New York. The aircraft rolled over on its right side and was substantially damaged. Four passengers had boarded the aircraft and other passengers were in the process of boarding. The passengers and the three crewmembers onboard received either minor or no injuries; however, four passengers who were still outside the aircraft and were waiting to board were killed and one was seriously injured. One pedestrian on the corner of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street was killed and another was seriously injured when they were struck by a separated portion of one of the main rotor blades of the aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the fatigue failure of the upper right forward fitting of the right main landing gear tube assembly. Fatigue originated from a small surface pit of undetermined source. All fatalities were caused by the operating rotor blades as a result of the collapse of the landing gear. |
| Learning Keywords: | Operations - Maintenance |
| Systems - Landing Gear | |
| Systems - Landing Gear - MLG Collapse | |
| Other - Manufacturing Issues | |
| Consequence - Hull Loss |
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