Mcdonnell Douglas Helicopter 369E N1608D accident near Jackson, Kentucky

Probable cause

The helicopter pilot's inadvertent collision with an unmarked and uncharted utility wire of which he was unaware.

NTSB analysis

An unmarked and uncharted wire extended between two ridges, the last remaining wire of several that had provided utilities to a mine that was no longer in operation. The pilot did not see the wire and was flying the helicopter between the two ridges, about 500 feet above the valley floor, when the main rotor head contacted the utility wire. The pilot initiated an emergency descent but he had limited control of the helicopter, and it collided with the valley floor. A postcrash fire consumed the wreckage. Because the mine had been closed for a long time, no one had reported the utility wire to the Federal Aviation Administration for addition on the appropriate aeronautical chart.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA13TA341 for the full record.