THE DTSB
The DTSB determines the Probable Cause of this accident to be Pilot Error, in that the accident pilot embarked on a significant cross country flight during a time of very low IMC and fog conditions. The sole pilot was a student pilot only and was in communication via cell phone within 2 minutes of the time of crash, with a person at an intended meeting location. The accident pilot reported via phone difficulties with low clouds, fog, and low forward visibility, but continued on the course towards the destination. From the data obtained it is likely that the probable cause of this accident lies in the fact that the accident pilot did enter unintentional IMC conditions during forward flight and then applied forward cyclic in order regain visual ground contact, whereby inducing a low G mast bump event. From the NTSB preliminary report: “Before ground impact, the main rotor blades struck the aft portion of the tailboom, which separated the empennage and tail rotor assembly.” It is not known at this time whether the student pilot was endorsed for both solo flight and this particular solo cross country flight.