Robinson R44 N881KE accident near Houston, Texas, October 20, 2024
Robinson R44, registration N881KE, operated by Express Helicopters LLC, was involved in an accident near Houston, Texas on October 20, 2024. The NTSB lists the highest injury level as fatal, with 4 people on board. Case CEN25FA019 is completed.
ADS-B receivers recorded 6 minutes of the flight after departing the Houston/Ellington Arpt area (KEFD), reaching a maximum of 675 ft. The last recorded position was at 00:49 UTC, at 650 ft and 98 knots, descending at 64 feet per minute, about 10 km from Houston/Hobby Arpt (KHOU).
The nearest weather report, from KHOU (10 km away), showed wind 130° at 7 knots, visibility 6 miles or more, no ceiling reported (VFR conditions).
The aircraft is a Robinson R44 Raven II registered in United States (Mode S AC2272).
This page reconstructs the flight from public ADS-B data for information only. The NTSB report is the authority on what happened and why.
Key facts
- Date
- October 20, 2024
- Location
- Houston, Texas
- Aircraft
- Robinson R44
- Registration
- N881KE
- Operator
- Express Helicopters LLC
- Injuries
- Fatal (4 on board)
- NTSB case
- CEN25FA019 (Completed)
- Departure area
- Houston/Ellington Arpt (KEFD)
- Nearest airport
- Houston/Hobby Arpt (KHOU)
- Recorded flight
- 6 min, max 675 ft
- Last recorded position
- 00:49 UTC, 650 ft, 98 kt
3D flight replay
Replay the recorded flight in 3D with the weather, light and terrain at the time, flight instruments reconstructed from the aircraft's ADS-B transmissions, and automatically detected events.
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Sources: NTSB case CEN25FA019; ADS-B flight data from adsb.lol (ODbL); weather from NOAA / Iowa Environmental Mesonet and Open-Meteo.