Pilot Error Blamed for Crash the Killed Troy Gentry

A recent report by the National Transportation Safety Board in the US has concluded that pilot error led to the helicopter crash that killed Montgomery Gentry’s Troy Gentry in September 2017.

There was however, another contributing factor.

Gentry and the pilot were in the helicopter when it crashed near the Flying W Airport & Resort in Medford, N.J., on Sept. 8. Montgomery Gentry had a show scheduled that night, and Gentry was taking a pleasure and sightseeing ride in the chopper. Soon after take-off, the pilot reported that he was not able to control engine RPM.

The report states that the pilot's "early entry into and failure to maintain rotor rpm during a forced landing autorotation after performing an engine shutdown in flight, which resulted in an uncontrolled descent." (per the Tennessean)

Additionally, maintenance personnel's failure to properly rig the throttle control tie-rod assembly contributed to the crash.

Sadly, both men on board the chopper were killed.