Thursday, May 01, 2014

Agusta AW119 MKII, N119HF: Accident occurred May 01, 2014 at South Jersey Regional Airport (KVAY), Mount Holly/Lumberton, New Jersey

National Transportation Safety Board - Aviation Accident Final Report: http://app.ntsb.gov/pdf 

Docket And Docket Items -  National Transportation Safety Board:   http://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

National Transportation Safety Board -  Aviation Accident Data Summary:   http://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

AGUSTAWESTLAND PHILADELPHIA CORP:  http://registry.faa.gov/N119HF


NTSB Identification: ERA14CA216
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, May 01, 2014 in Lumberton, NJ
Probable Cause Approval Date: 06/18/2014
Aircraft: AGUSTA AEROSPACE CORP AW119 MKII, registration: N119HF
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

According to the flight instructor, he gave the pilot under instruction (PUI) a simulated engine failure after takeoff when the helicopter reached approximately 50 knots. The PUI pulled the cyclic aft and increased collective. The flight instructor joined the PUI on the controls to prevent him from pulling too much collective and to lower the helicopter's nose to a level attitude. Both pilots were on the controls as the collective was increased to cushion the landing. The helicopter landed on the paved runway's centerline, and as it slid across what the pilots described as an uneven surface, it began to porpoise. The flight instructor lowered the collective to slow the slide and heard a noise, then the helicopter began vibrate and turned 220 degrees to the right before coming to a stop. During the slide, a main rotor blade cut off the tail boom. Neither pilot reported any preexisting mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:

The flightcrew's improper recovery from a simulated engine failure after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor's failure to clarify who had control of the helicopter.




  Helicopter Crash Shortly after 11am, Thursday an AgustaWestland AW119 Koala landed on the runway at South Jersey Regional Airport in Lumberton. The AgustaWestland Corp  flight instructor and student pilot were practicing take off and landing procedures when a problem occurred. The tail sheared off and they were able to land the helicopter upright on the landing strip at S.J.Regional Airport near Ark Road. No injuries were reported. 





LUMBERTON — A flight instructor and student pilot walked away from a helicopter crash Thursday morning at the South Jersey Regional Airport, police said.

The accident happened shortly after 11 a.m. during an instruction flight at the airport off Stacy Haines Road.

Flight instructor Douglas Edge, 46, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and student pilot Guilherme Censoni, 35, of Brazil, were practicing emergency procedures for engine failures when the tail of the 
AgustaWestland AW119 sheared off, police Chief Tony DiLoreto said.

The flight instructor was able to land the helicopter at the airfield.

The men were not hurt, the chief said.

“He was able to land the helicopter upright, which was pretty amazing,” DiLoreto said.

Township police and firefighters responded to the airport as a precaution.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were expected to investigate the accident.

Edge is employed by AgustaWestland Corp., DiLoreto said. A spokeswoman for the Philadelphia company declined to specify how long Edge had been an instructor with the company but said the company was grateful no one was injured in the accident.

"We are cooperating with authorities to conduct a full investigation to determine the cause of this incident," AgustaWestland Corp. spokeswoman Laurel Slepian said.

A South Jersey Regional employee said Edge and the helicopter were not based at the airport but previously practiced there. 


Story, photo gallery and video: http://www.burlingtoncountytimes.com