The police helicopter that crashed at Charleston International Airport in South Carolina at the start of August was missing a bolt in its tail rotor control system, the National Transportation Safety Board has revealed.
In a preliminary report issued this week, the NTSB said the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office helicopter was "substantially damaged" after becoming involved in the accident on Aug. 1 while on a positioning flight from Sumter Airport.
"The pilot reported that after about 35 minutes of flight, the helicopter started to yaw slowly to the right. The pilot applied left pedal with no response," the NTSB said in the report. "The pilot stated, 'It felt as if the pedals were not attached.’"
The NTSB says the pilot then contacted the control tower at Charleston International Airport and declared an emergency as he struggled to bring the helicopter under control.
"The helicopter struck the ground adjacent to the runway at a high rate of descent, coming to rest in the grass adjacent to runway 15. The tail rotor boom severed during the impact sequence," the report said.
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration later visited the site to inspect the wreckage and learned that "one of the two bolts that secure the lever assemblies in the tail rotor control system was missing," according to the NTSB.
"A further review of the maintenance records revealed that the bolts would have been removed and reinstalled during recent maintenance on June 28, 2023, about 15 flight hours prior to the accident," the NTSB added.
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The FAA also "confirmed substantial damage to the fuselage, main rotor system, and tail rotor system."
The pilot involved in the crash, Charleston County Sheriff's Lt. Scott Martraya, has been with the agency since 2006 and was released from a local hospital a day later, The Associated Press reports.
The wreckage remains under investigation.
All flights at the airport were temporarily suspended in the wake of the accident.
After about two hours, the airport then announced that one of its runways reopened.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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