NTSB Identification: GAA17CA112
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 18, 2017 in Champaign, IL
Probable Cause Approval Date: 04/04/2017
Aircraft: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22, registration: N8042B
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 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.
The student pilot reported that, while practicing 180° autorotations about 500 ft above ground level, the flight instructor reduced the throttle, and the student pilot lowered the collective while simultaneously applying aft cyclic and right pedal. He added that the helicopter began to “dive,” and the flight instructor took control of the helicopter.
The flight instructor reported that he initiated a go-around by applying aft cyclic and raising the collective, but they “continued in a rapid descent.” The flight instructor added that at “roughly fifty feet, [he] flared harder to attempt a next-to-final arrest.” The helicopter landed hard, the skids collapsed, and the main rotor blades severed the tailboom. The helicopter slid about 300 ft down the runway toward the right; the right skid stuck into the grass, and the helicopter rotated clockwise about the right skid, tipped onto the nose, and rolled to the left.
The flight instructor reported that he and the student pilot had performed about 10 to 12 practice autorotations before the accident.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Robinson Helicopter Company published Safety Notice, SN-38, dated July 2003 and revised in October 2004, which addressed training accidents caused by practice autorotations and stated, in part:
A high percentage of training accidents occur after many consecutive autorotations. To maintain instructor focus and minimize student fatigue, limit practice to no more than 3 or 4 consecutive autorotations.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Helicopter Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-21A, dated 2012, addressed tailboom strikes during autorotations and stated, in part:
A power recovery can be made during training in lieu of a full touchdown landing. Refer to the section on power recovery for the correct technique. After the helicopter has come to a complete stop after touchdown, lower the collective pitch to the full-down position. Do not try to stop the forward ground run with aft cyclic, as the main rotor blades can strike the tail boom. Rather, by lowering the collective slightly during the ground run, more weight is placed on the undercarriage, slowing the helicopter. One common error is holding the helicopter off the surface versus cushioning the helicopter on to the surface during an autorotation. Holding the helicopter in the air by using all of the rotor rpm potential energy usually causes the helicopter to have a hard landing, which results in the blades flexing down and contacting the tail boom. The rotor rpm should be used to cushion the helicopter on to the surface for a controlled, smooth landing instead of allowing the helicopter to drop the last few inches.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The flight instructor’s failure to arrest the descent rate during the practice autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing.
The student pilot reported that while practicing 180 degree autorotations, about 500 feet above ground level (agl), the flight instructor reduced the throttle and the student pilot lowered the collective while simultaneously applying aft cyclic and right peddle. He further reported that the helicopter began to "dive" and the flight instructor took control of the helicopter.
The flight instructor reported that he initiated a go-around by applying aft cyclic and raising the collective, but they "continued in a rapid descent." The flight instructor further reported that "roughly fifty feet [he] flared harder to attempt a next-to-final arrest". The helicopter landed hard, the skids collapsed, and the main rotor blades severed the tailboom. The helicopter slid about 300 feet down the runway toward the right; the right skid stuck into the grass and the helicopter rotated clockwise about the right skid, tipped onto the nose, and rolled to the left.
The flight instructor reported that he and the student pilot had performed about 10-12 practice autorotations prior to the accident.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Robinson Helicopter Company published a safety notice, SN-38, dated July 2003, and revised in October 2004, addresses training accidents caused by practice autorotations. It states, in part:
A high percentage of training accidents occur after many consecutive autorotations. To maintain instructor focus and minimize student fatigue, limit practice to no more than 3 or 4 consecutive autorotations.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published the Helicopter Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-21A, dated 2012, addresses tailboom strikes during autorotations. The handbook states, in part:
A power recovery can be made during training in lieu of a full touchdown landing. Refer to the section on power recovery for the correct technique. After the helicopter has come to a complete stop after touchdown, lower the collective pitch to the full-down position. Do not try to stop the forward ground run with aft cyclic, as the main rotor blades can strike the tail boom. Rather, by lowering the collective slightly during the ground run, more weight is placed on the undercarriage, slowing the helicopter.
One common error is holding the helicopter off the surface versus cushioning the helicopter on to the surface during an autorotation. Holding the helicopter in the air by using all of the rotor rpm potential energy usually causes the helicopter to have a hard landing, which results in the blades flexing down and contacting the tail boom. The rotor rpm should be used to cushion the helicopter on to the surface for a controlled, smooth landing instead of allowing the helicopter to drop the last few inches.
Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf
Additional Participating Entity: Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office: Springfield, Illinois
Summerskyz Inc: http://registry.faa.gov/N8042B
NTSB Identification: GAA17CA112
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 18, 2017 in Champaign, IL
Aircraft: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22, registration: N8042B
Injuries: 1 Minor, 1 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.
The student pilot reported that while practicing 180 degree autorotations, about 500 feet above ground level (agl), the flight instructor reduced the throttle and the student pilot lowered the collective while simultaneously applying aft cyclic and right peddle. He further reported that the helicopter began to "dive" and the flight instructor took control of the helicopter.
The flight instructor reported that he initiated a go-around by applying aft cyclic and raising the collective, but they "continued in a rapid descent." The flight instructor further reported that "roughly fifty feet [he] flared harder to attempt a next-to-final arrest". The helicopter landed hard, the skids collapsed, and the main rotor blades severed the tailboom. The helicopter slid about 300 feet down the runway toward the right; the right skid stuck into the grass and the helicopter rotated clockwise about the right skid, tipped onto the nose, and rolled to the left.
The flight instructor reported that he and the student pilot had performed about 10-12 practice autorotations prior to the accident.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Robinson Helicopter Company published a safety notice, SN-38, dated July 2003, and revised in October 2004, addresses training accidents caused by practice autorotations. It states, in part:
A high percentage of training accidents occur after many consecutive autorotations. To maintain instructor focus and minimize student fatigue, limit practice to no more than 3 or 4 consecutive autorotations.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published the Helicopter Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-21A, dated 2012, addresses tailboom strikes during autorotations. The handbook states, in part:
A power recovery can be made during training in lieu of a full touchdown landing. Refer to the section on power recovery for the correct technique. After the helicopter has come to a complete stop after touchdown, lower the collective pitch to the full-down position. Do not try to stop the forward ground run with aft cyclic, as the main rotor blades can strike the tail boom. Rather, by lowering the collective slightly during the ground run, more weight is placed on the undercarriage, slowing the helicopter.
One common error is holding the helicopter off the surface versus cushioning the helicopter on to the surface during an autorotation. Holding the helicopter in the air by using all of the rotor rpm potential energy usually causes the helicopter to have a hard landing, which results in the blades flexing down and contacting the tail boom. The rotor rpm should be used to cushion the helicopter on to the surface for a controlled, smooth landing instead of allowing the helicopter to drop the last few inches.
A University of Illinois Willard Airport official said a helicopter was severely damaged during a minor crash at the airport Wednesday afternoon. But he said both people onboard escaped without any injuries.
Airport executive director Gene Cossey said a private independent company, which he declined to name, leases space from the airport for training purposes. Cossey said an instructor and student pilot were in the helicopter at the time of the accident.
Cossey said there was never a danger of the helicopter catching on fire. But he said there was a small fuel leak which crews cleaned up. Cossey estimated that the helicopter was about 500 to 800 feet off the ground, but he had not been able to confirm that as of Wednesday afternoon.
Cossey said all of the other aircraft leaving and arriving at the airport were able to mostly stay on schedule with only slight delays. He said the crash is under investigation, but he said it will be a minor one since no one was injured and because it is a small aircraft.
Several emergency crews and ambulances responded to the scene.
Story and audio: http://www.news-gazette.com
SAVOY, Illinois - A small helicopter made a big landing. It crashed at Willard Airport Wednesday afternoon. No one was hurt.
Both the flight instructor and student pilot got out okay. It's not clear who was flying at the time of the crash.
Airport officials say a small training helicopter was preparing to land on a training runway. As it was landing, they lost control, the tail rotator struck the ground, the helicopter skilled and flipped.
Officials say, in a situation like this, a quick response is crucial. Authorities say the craft was never in danger of catching fire.
The helicopter is owned by a private company, separate from Willard, UI or Parkland. The name is not currently being released.
Officials say the Flight Standards District Office is gathering information to conduct and investigation. No word how long it will take.
Source: http://www.illinoishomepage.net
Savoy - A helicopter crash is under investigation at the Willard Airport in Savoy, just outside Champaign.
Airport officials tell WAND News, no one was injured.
The helicopter is a Robinson R22 and was being used for training when it crashed at the airport, just after 1:30 p.m. An instructor and student were in the plane but made it out safely. The name of the training company is not being released.
The helicopter is considered a complete loss.
Officials were documenting the crash and an investigation was underway.
No flights were delayed or canceled following the crash.
Story and video: http://www.wandtv.com
Unfortunately this information is incorrect. I was there and, among other things that are incorrect in this report, the blades did not sever the tail boom on impact as a person would be led to believe. The helicopter had heading control with proper correlation between the heading and the pedals while sliding for over 300 feet until it contacted the grass and flipped over at which time the tail boom was indeed torn from the aircraft . Another bit of information that is conspicuously missing is how the pilot reported a downdraft to the rescue personnel and medical staff, initiated a power on go around above 400 feet AGL, had around 69-70 KIAS, even after he raised the collective all the way up to the stop they continued a quick descent, even though the collective was topped out the RPM didn’t drop more than 1%, the horn never came on, even though on impact in ground effect and still indicating 50+ KIAS and 102% rotor RPM they never became airborne after 300+ feet of sliding in ETL, the tail rotor drive shaft remained in one piece (was not severed), and when the student said “dive”, while explaining what took place, nobody in the investigation or rescue crew took into account that he held his hand parallel not perpendicular to the ground and as a foreigner english was not his primary language. If an investigation was professionally done it would have been quite apparent through the use of mechanical physics, aerodynamics, and the use of photographs taken after the crash that this was not a late recovery as the final report indicates.
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