N2304W

On December 6, 1998, approximately 1200 Pacific standard time, a Robinson R-22B, N2304W, operated by Classic Helicopters of Seattle, Washington, and flown by the pilot as a 14 CFR 91 personal flight, struck a telephone wire near Carnation, Washington, and subsequently made a hard landing in two feet of water. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and a company visual flight rules flight plan was filed. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The private pilot and his passenger were uninjured. The flight originated from Boeing Field in Seattle about 1 hour and 40 minutes earlier, and was to have been a local flight.

The pilot reported:

...I wanted to fly by my relatives to show my passenger...their farm.... We flew a reconnaissance pass over the farm at approximately 500 feet and decided to do a low pass in front of the house. The combination of the gray and black clouds with the sunshine on the horizon made the wires virtually invisible until we struck them at approximately 50 feet above the ground. The wire struck the trailing edge of the blade causing the helicopter to shake violently. I had to set the helicopter down immediately before something more serious happened. We landed hard in the water and shut the ship down....

The pilot reported on his NTSB accident report that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident.

The passenger reported:

...We were somewhere in the Carnation area when[the pilot] spotted his relatives['] farm. We circled it once up high and saw two people on the ground. We then dropped in elevation to get a closer look. As we circled the farm again we came upon some wires directly in front of us. They were extremely difficult to see. [The pilot] immediately tried to clear the wires but struck one of them. We started to shake violently and [the pilot] put the helicopter down. We hit the water hard but neither of us were hurt....