N2074B – SCHWEIZER 269C-1 – 2010-10-06 NTSB Accident Report

On October 06, 2010, a Schweizer 269C-1 (N2074B) was involved in an incident near Titusville, FL. All 2 people aboard were uninjured. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this incident to be: An inadvertent in-flight collision with a bird.

According to the pilot, he was flying at 1,000 feet when he noticed a large bird located to the right of his flight path. As the bird started to circle towards the helicopter, the pilot tried to avoid it by making a sharp left turn. When the helicopter was in a steep left bank, the pilot felt a "thump in the aircraft and cyclic control," and the cyclic became "sluggish and spongy." The pilot completed a controlled descent and landed the helicopter in the median of a highway. An examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the main rotor blades required replacement. The pilot did not report any mechanical anomalies with the helicopter prior to the in-flight collision.

This incident is documented in NTSB report ERA11CA012. AviatorDB cross-references NTSB investigation data with FAA registry records to provide comprehensive safety information for aircraft N2074B.