KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The National Transportation Safety Board released its final findings into the August 2020 helicopter crash that killed Knoxville businessman Joe Clayton.
Joe Clayton died after a helicopter piloted by his brother, Jim Clayton, crashed into Fort Loudoun Lake near the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood on the evening of August 3, 2020. The helicopter was on a landing approach to a helipad outside Jim Clayton's home.
Jim Clayton and two others on board, grandson Flynt Griffin along with developer and arts supporter Jay McBride, survived and were able to swim to safety.
The NTSB said the probable cause of the crash was an error the pilot made while approaching for landing. The investigation found the helicopter did not have any equipment malfunctions or issues that would have kept it from flying normally.
The NTSB said the helicopter likely entered a hazardous aerodynamic state known as "vortex ring state" because Clayton did not correctly monitor the helicopter's altitude, airspeed and rate of descent during the landing approach. The agency said vortex ring state caused the helicopter to descend steeply with little forward airspeed, and Clayton was unable to recover from the state before the helicopter crashed into the water.
You can read the NTSB's full report below or by clicking this link.
According to the report, Clayton said he "pulled max power to stop the settling," but the helicopter appeared as if it "didn't have any power" as it continued to descend and crash into the river. The NTSB interviewed another pilot who spoke with Clayton the morning after the crash. The pilot told investigators Clayton recalled making a steep approach and he "came in vertically with little-to-no airspeed," saying he estimated he was descending at a rate greater than 300 feet per minute.
"Situations that are conducive to a vortex ring state condition are attempting to hover out of ground effect (OGE) without maintaining precise altitude control, and approaches, especially steep approaches, with a tailwind component," the NTSB said.
A witness on a neighboring property told the NTSB the helicopter “came from the south and kind of hovered over the water pretty low.” She said that it hovered longer than usual before tilting toward the south and descending into the water.
A spokesperson for Jim Clayton said the family is reviewing the report and does not have a comment at the moment.