Date:	Sunday 3 May 2009
Time:	12:30
Type:	Robinson R44 Raven II
Owner/operator:	Guidance Helicopters Inc
Registration:	N441CB
MSN:	10068
Year of manufacture:	2003
Total airframe hrs:	1541 hours
Engine model:	Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	Cottonwood, AZ -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Ernest A. Love Field, Prescott, AZ (PRC/KPRC)
Destination airport:	Ernest A. Love Field, Prescott, AZ (PRC/KPRC)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The local sightseeing flight departed Prescott to tour the Jerome, Cottonwood, and Verde Rivers areas in Arizona. The pilot was maneuvering through a dry river bed in a hilly area. He did not see a set of power lines until they hit the windshield about level with the top of the instrument panel. The nose immediately pitched up and then quickly pitched forward. The pilot estimated that the airspeed was 70 knots and that the altitude was 150 feet above ground level. He lowered the collective to enter an autorotation but delayed the flare until passing over a ridgeline. He was able to bleed off most of the airspeed and leveled the skids prior to touchdown; however, the skids dug into soft dirt and the helicopter pitched forward.

The main rotor blades were still at 100 percent rpm when they struck the ground and sustained substantial damage. The helicopter rocked back and came to rest upright on the skids. The main rotor blades, mast, firewall, tail boom, and tail rotor driveshaft sustained substantial damage.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot's inadequate visual lookout and failure to maintain clearance from wires.

1. NTSB Accident Number: WPR09CA224 at https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20090503X11102&AKey=1&RType=HTML&IType=CA
2. FAA Registration: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?omni=Home-N-Number&nNumberTxt=N441CB
3. http://helihub.com/2009/05/03/3-may-09-n441cb-robinson-r44-cottonwood-us-arizona/
4. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=50469
5. https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/7037784

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
05-Nov-2018 21:24	Dr.John Smith	Added
26-Feb-2022 00:08	Captain Adam	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ]