N4174L is a 2008 Robinson Helicopter R44 II. It is a rotorcraft with 4 seats, powered by a Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 rated at 260 horsepower. The registration is active, with the registrant based in South Barrington, IL. Its standard airworthiness certificate was issued in Jun 2021. It has been registered to its current owner since Dec 2016. This page also carries 1 NTSB event.
- 18 years old
2021
2016
That's everything on file so far — TailWiki checks the FAA registry daily and adds new entries as N4174L's record changes.
The pilot of the aerial application flight stated that when the flight returned to the load truck, it still had aerial application product aboard, which he was unaware of. He requested and received an additional 60 gallons of product that was loaded onto the helicopter for the accident flight. After loading the helicopter with the additional product, it now was about 172 lbs over the helicopter’s gross weight. When the helicopter departed from the load truck on the accident flight, the helicopter experienced a decay in rotor rpm and settled into an adjacent corn field about 75 ft from the truck. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main and tail rotor blades and tail boom.
The pilot stated that he was not properly prepared to jettison the load in the event of an emergency and his power cross checks were not adequate. The pilot stated that there was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the helicopter. An excessive load would have reduced the climb performance capability of the helicopter and resulted in settling.
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