North Carolina Lawmakers Refer Helo Mishap To DA | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.21.25

Airborne-Unlimited-07.22.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.23.25

Airborne-Unlimited-07.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.25.25

Fri, Jun 10, 2005

North Carolina Lawmakers Refer Helo Mishap To DA

Should Sheriff -- Or Aircraft Owner -- Be Prosecuted In Deputy's Death?

In North Carolina, Franklin County commissioners this week unanimously voted to ask the district attorney for a criminal investigation into the death of a deputy in a helicopter mishap more than a year ago.

As ANN reported in May, 2004, 53-year old Franklin County Sheriff's Deputy Ted Horton was killed in the crash of Hughes 269-A owned and flown by 33-year old Benjamin T. Barrick. Barrick wasn't certificated to fly that aircraft.

The FAA doesn't require a public-use aircraft be flown by a certificated pilot. But, as FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen pointed out last year, "Ninety-nine percent of all public-use operators do have pilots' certificates."

Then there's the issue of the helo itself -- which the NTSB found wasn't properly cared for. A crack in the Hughes' tail boom was found, an issue investigators blamed on metal fatigue.

The NTSB factual report said:

A review of maintenance records revealed that the last recorded annual inspection was completed on March 21, 2004, at an airframe total time of 5,506.2 hours. On March 13, 1980, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) 80-05-05 addressing Schweizer Helicopters Model 269 series equipped with a tail boom center support (saddle) fitting certificated in all categories. The AD was issued to prevent fatigue failure of the tail boom center support fitting and the resultant loss of the tailboom. A review of the maintenance records dating back to March 13, 1980, found no logbook entries that indicated the required inspections outlined in the AD had been accomplished.

"There's an element of fraud there,” Franklin County Commissioner Raymond Stone told News 14 Carolina. “We now have the benefit of the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB report and also the FAA report."

The aircraft was leased from Barrick's company, NETSTAR. Now, commissioners are worried that Sheriff Jerry Jones didn't go through proper channels in leasing the aircraft.

Because the incident involves a law agency, the matter has been referred to state investigators.

Did the sheriff commit a crime?

"No, I don't think he has committed any crimes,” said Franklin County District Attorney Sam Currin. He said it will be up to an SBI agent to investigate the case. “If he says that they can't conduct the investigation or won't, then I’m not going to prosecute."

FMI: NTSB Factual Report

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 07.22.25: MOSAIC Released!, Able Flight, SUN n FUN 26

Also: Airbus Acubed Wayfinder FlightLab, Lightspeed Zulu 4, Pelton On Issues Plaguing GA For the better part of a decade and certainly before the last several years in particular, >[...]

Airborne 07.23.25: VoltAero, Bud Anderson Remembered, WomenVenture, Beta

Also: Wing Delivers, Stralis/Aviate Enterprises, EAA’s Youth Programs, EAA’s Impressive Museum And Aircraft Collection VoltAero’s HPU 210 hybrid propulsion unit i>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.26.25): Downburst

Downburst A strong downdraft which induces an outburst of damaging winds on or near the ground. Damaging winds, either straight or curved, are highly divergent. The sizes of downbu>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.26.25)

Aero Linx: Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) The Air Charter Safety Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Founded in 2008, our mission is to lead and support the advanc>[...]

Airborne 07.24.25: Spirit SE-1!, H55 eFlyer, King Schools

Also: Centauri Aircraft Valkyrie, Meet the Admin, Night Airshow, Pelton Intv'w When we laid eyes on this critter, we fell in love… and then we learned the amazing story of t>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC