ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 14207
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| Date: | Monday 16 May 1977 |
| Time: | 17:35 LT |
| Type: |  Sikorsky S-61L-II |
| Owner/operator: | New York Airways |
| Registration: | N619PA |
| MSN: | 61427 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1968 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 25 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Pan Am Heliport, New York, NY -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Standing |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | New York/Pan Am Heliport |
| New York/JFK | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The right landing gear of a New York Airways Sikorsky 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.
Accident investigation:
|
Sources:
http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR77-09.pdf
https://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=57237&key=0
https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/may-16-1977-helicopter-accident-on-top-of-pan-am-building-kills-five/
Netherlands national archive, UPI pressphoto of the crash scene: http://proxy.handle.net/10648/263b114f-cad0-49b6-c657-d6733b514a36
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Sep-2009 11:47 | Anon. | Updated |
| 26-Sep-2009 01:42 | Anon. | Updated |
| 28-Dec-2009 12:38 | TB | Updated [Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
| 30-Dec-2009 11:55 | TB | Updated [Aircraft type] |
| 16-May-2012 07:29 | gerard57 | Updated [Other fatalities, Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Dec-2012 13:02 | TB | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2012 09:20 | TB | Updated [Time, Source, Narrative] |
| 24-Aug-2014 15:38 | TB | Updated [Narrative] |
| 16-Feb-2020 11:33 | harro | Updated [Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 29-Dec-2020 18:37 | hoekb03 | Updated [Source, Accident report] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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