Question

One night, a sheriff’s department helicopter lands a SWAT team in the yard of a rural residence suspected of containing a methamphetamine lab. After the raiding party disembarked, and as the pilot was turning the aircraft in a hover to depart, the helicopter's tail rotor contacted a barbed-wire fence and was damaged to the extent it will have to be replaced. No one was injured. Explain any NTSB notifications and reporting that would be required and why?

Answer 1

If you talk about the reporting necessities then certain mishaps and accident or incident need to be reported to NTSB. The first step is to determine that the incident was not an aircraft accident. There is a definition of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of aircraft accident which says that an incident related with the aircraft operations which had been occurred between the time any individual boards the aero plane having the intention of flying it and the person have disembarked, There should be a serious injury to the person and there should be substantial damage to the aircraft. If we compare this definition with the above incident then there was no injury and substantial damage because of this the above incident could not be considered an accident. The tail rotor was damaged because of the incident and there is a need of replacement. This is a reportable incident and it should be notified to NTSB by the Sheriff department with written report.