Posted on 07/09/2025 5:41:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
In Brief:
🚁 A tour helicopter crashed at Destin Executive Airport last month due to a loose bolt, according to a new NTSB report.
🧰 Investigators found other bolts were only hand-tight, and the helicopter suffered major damage, though all passengers survived.
🕵️ While the operator wasn’t named, officials confirmed Timberview Helicopters is the only tour provider based at the airport.
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its report on the crash that occurred at Destin Executive Airport involving a tour helicopter last month.
In the report, the investigator stated that a bolt from the cyclic servo had backed out and fallen off of the connecting rod. The bolt was located inside the wreckage. Other bolts were found to be only hand-tight.
Higgins Leasing Inc., a company from The Woodlands, Texas, leased the helicopter.
The NTSB pointed out that the crash inflicted substantial damage on the Robinson R 66 turbine helicopter, but that none of the three passengers were killed. The NTSB preliminary accident report noted two people had minor injuries and one escaped unharmed.
“The pilot stated that the accident flight was the fourth air tour flight of the day. After takeoff, during the transition to flight about 15 feet above the ground, he heard a pop and the helicopter made a heart-shaped nose dive into the ground. He applied the left stick, but nothing happened.” The report continues, “the helicopter impacted the ground on its right side and shattered the windshield. The main rotor blades fractured into pieces. The tail rotor and tail boom fractured off the helicopter, and we’re located about 25 feet behind the main wreckage.”
Timberview Helicopters and Their Safety Record
None of the reports stated what company operated the helicopter. We reached out to the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, which operates Destin Executive Airport, about the helicopter tour operators at the airport. They say the only operator working out of Destin Executive Airport is Timberview Helicopters.
Timberview Helicopters is a helicopter tour operator that flies helicopters in Florida and Texas, according to its website.
We called Timberview Helicopters’ phone number and spoke to an unidentified representative, who confirmed that the crash involved one of their helicopters last month.
She informed us that she would contact the chief pilot of the organization and arrange for someone to get in touch with us regarding the incident. When they do so, we will update the story here with their comments about the crash.
Reports dating back ten years show several incidents in Florida involving the company. The NTSB investigated crashes in 2012, 2015, and 2019. None of these accidents resulted in fatalities, though some of them had injuries.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the current fatality rate for helicopter rides is low, at around 0.69 fatalities per 100,000 flight hours, which is lower than the Bureau’s fatality rate in 2015 for general aviation, 1.8 per 100,000 flight hours.
Unsecured fasteners is a lack of preventative maintenance issue.....that and you would think the aircraft would need scheduled Quality inspection periodically, especially if maintenance required disassembly/reassembly
In the Navy, the helicopter pilots were almost always officers, but I do believe they had a small percentage of Warrant Officers which are kind of a hybrid between enlisted and commissioned officers.
I did not know the Army had enlisted flying helicopters. Are ALL of them enlisted?
One would hope that DEI doesn’t apply to aircraft mechanics...but something tells me that’s a pipe dream.
So passengers should pre-flight a helicopter before boarding?
Not loctite, safety wire. The bolts were almost certainly supposed to be safety wired. It's what holds aircraft together.
Whoever the me hanic was needs at minimum to lose his certification.
Hell, after 32+ years in the US Army, I do not get on an, I say again, any helicopter!
I have used up all of my luck regarding them!
“Army helicopter pilots are enlisted.”
You couldn’t be more wrong. The US ARMY has NO enlisted helicopter pilots. They are either Warrant Officers or commissioned officers.
You missed the “(how the Libertarians see it)” part.
“So passengers should pre-flight a helicopter before boarding?”
Yep, and the Libertarian position is that the passengers deserve what they got for both not doing the pre-flight and also not bringing a torque wrench with them.
The (Libertarian) idea being that if enough helicopters go down this way, the market will force the remaining companies to do better inspections.
In other words, Libertarians are SICK people.
(I only attack them, at this point, because they are trying to destroy Trump)
**You couldn’t be more wrong. The US ARMY has NO enlisted helicopter pilots. They are either Warrant Officers or commissioned officers.**
I will stand corrected-thank you.
The Army had a similar saying regarding the Jesus nut. When that nut comes off, the first thing the pilot says is “Oh Jesus!”
What does the tail rotor do? It’s primary purpose is to keep the pilot cool. For when it comes off he starts to sweat.
Just show up with a torque wrench in your hand. Tell the pilot that you’d like to do a little preflight inspection!
Helicopters are amazing machines... I lived in Jacksonville NC for years (for those do not know this is the town outside of Camp Legeune, NC. As well as the Marine Corp Air Station, and Camp Geiger.
They used to have Froggers, and Apache’s and Huey’s fly over all the time. Got to see them up close often as my Step father was a Corpsman assigned to the air station. Amazing machines.
Many years years later I got my first up close look at the bubble civilian type copters flying, that were common in those years... Hughs 500D etc.. Not a chance in hell I would ever get into one of those civilian birds.
I know they are safe, but even as a just casual teenager observing the difference, it was obvious they were built to very different specifications. Military birds were beasts, the civilian choppers looked like they could fall apart in a stiff breeze by comparison.
Hahaha...so true!
You'd think that people followed the news story from January of U.S. Army helicopter pilot Captain Rebecca Lobach and the crash into a commercial airliner over the Potomac River.
These guys have a concrete landing pad beside US98, a six lane highway, a gas tank on a trailer and a windsock.
Looks professional to me!...........🙄
Worked in aviation maintenance for a long time supporting the Navy Warfighter....I saw dei there before dei had a name....thankfully my facility had common sense enough to keep the dei people far enough away from the aircraft that they couldn’t do any damage.
I took one of those Helicopter Lessons where you pay $150 for a ground school and a single introductory flight with an instructor.
I could fly the helicopter, but could not hover.
LOL, I did it with a bunch of guys at work who asked me, and...despite my reservations, I did it!
But I know just what you mean.
Exactly - at least the Leftist gave us a term for what they’ve been doing for decades, makes it much easier to fight them!
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