ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 133981
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| Date: | Tuesday 20 February 1996 |
| Time: | 11:40 LT |
| Type: | American Sportscopter Ultrasport 254 |
| Owner/operator: | Advanced Technologies |
| Registration: | N254AS |
| MSN: | 00002 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 80 hours |
| Engine model: | Hirth 2706 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | West Point, VA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Unknown |
| Departure airport: | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
According to a witness, the helicopter was hovering backward at a pace he described as '...a brisk walk...[then it stopped its rearward flight and] pitched the nose down to transition to forward flight.' The aircraft continued to pitch over into a progressively steeper nose down attitude, and descended into the terrain. The pilot stated that he '...initially applied forward cyclic and positive collective in order to fly through translational lift and enter stable forward flight...I realized I had no control in the forward longitudinal axis...impacted the ground approximately two seconds after the uncommanded pitch acceleration. Postaccident examination of the helicopter and videotaped evidence of the accident did not revealed a preimpact malfunction or anomaly. The pilot reported that he had 3,554 hours total flight time, including 2,032 hours in rotorcraft/helicopter. The pilot indicated that he had 2.2 hours in the accident make and model aircraft.
Probable Cause: the pilot's failure to maintain control of the helicopter during low altitude flight/maneuvering, which resulted in the helicopter impacting terrain. A related factor was the pilot's lack of flight experience in the make and model of helicopter.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB IAD96LA045
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Dec-2016 19:26 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 09-Apr-2024 08:10 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Cn, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
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