ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 133703
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Date: | Wednesday 30 September 1998 |
Time: | 11:30 |
Type: | Robinson R22B |
Owner/operator: | Verticare Inc |
Registration: | N8340D |
MSN: | 2618 |
Year of manufacture: | 1996 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Category: | Accident |
Location: | North of Salinas, Monterey County, California -
United States of America
|
Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
Nature: | Training |
Departure airport: | Salinas Municipal Airport, Salinas, California (SNS/KSNS) |
Destination airport: | |
Investigating agency: | NTSB |
Confidence Rating: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Narrative:On September 30, 1998, at 11:30 PDT hours Pacific daylight time, a Robinson R22B, N8340D, crashed in a practice area north of Salinas, California. The aircraft was destroyed, and the private airplane rated pilot, the sole occupant, suffered serious injuries. The flight originated at the Salinas Airport at 1030, and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed.
The chief pilot of the flight school reported that the student helicopter pilot was briefed for his first non supervised solo flight. The pilot was told to practice traffic patterns, and was instructed to only fly normal approaches and takeoffs, with no emergency maneuvers.
The student pilot reported that he worked on normal traffic patterns, then decided to practice auto rotations to a go-around. He entered the auto rotation from approximately 800 feet agl and 70 knots of airspeed. He stated that he initiated the auto rotation by cutting the throttle and lowering the collective. He then turned 180 degrees to position the aircraft into the wind. The pilot reported that he noticed the rotor rpm rising rapidly, so he raised the collective and applied aft cyclic to slow the airspeed to 65 knots. Approximately 200 to 300 feet agl, he initiated a go-around to abort the auto rotation. The pilot stated that he raised the collective to add power but didn't get the response he was looking for. He stated that at that point he was "not sure what was going wrong but felt [he] was losing control and going down very fast." He further stated that "all inputs of raising the collective weren't slowing [him] down at all." The pilot reported that once he realized he was about to hit the ground, he pulled up on the collective and applied full aft cyclic. The helicopter impacted the ground and rolled over.
The chief pilot reported that when the pilot called him for help after the accident, the pilot stated, "I did what you told me not to do." The student pilot had been given a solo endorsement on September 14, 1998.
PROBABLE CAUSE:The failure of the student pilot to maintain control of the aircraft while practicing auto rotations.
Sources:
1. NTSB Identification: LAX98LA311 at
https://www.ntsb.gov/about/employment/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001211X11116&ntsbno=LAX98LA311&akey=1 2. FAA:
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=8340D 3.
http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=1304 Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
23-Sep-2016 17:04 |
Dr.John Smith |
Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
21-Dec-2016 19:26 |
ASN Update Bot |
Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
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