N8319T

On January 31, 1997 at 1130, central standard time, a Robinson R-22 helicopter, N8319T, collided with a utility pole while hovering to park, following a landing at the Dean Griffin Memorial Airport, in Wiggins, Mississippi. The solo cross country training flight operated under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The helicopter sustained substantial damage; the student pilot was not injured. The flight departed time from Picayune, Mississippi, at1050.

According to the operator, the student pilot was conducting a solo cross country flight, and had completed two legs of the flight prior to landing at Wiggins. Reportedly, the student pilot was hovering to the parking ramp, to refuel, when both main rotor blades struck a utility pole. The operator also said that the student pilot saw the utility pole but misjudged the rotor blade clearance. No mechanical problems with the helicopter were reported by the student pilot.