Pilot Debrief

INNOVATOR TECHNOLOGIES MOSQUITO XEL near Felda, FL — 2013-09-29

Final reportERA13LA437
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Date
2013-09-29
Location
Felda, FL, USA
Aircraft
INNOVATOR TECHNOLOGIES MOSQUITO XEL
Registration
UNREG
Category
Helicopter
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Approach

Probable cause

The pilot’s loss of helicopter control while hovering for reasons that could not be determined during postaccident examination of the helicopter, which was limited due to postcrash fire damage.

NTSB narrative

After about a 10-minute flight, the pilot returned to the airport and attempted to land the helicopter. A witness reported that, when the helicopter was about 30 ft above the ground, it seemed to be "unstable" and began to oscillate from side to side. The pilot then aborted the landing, flew for a few minutes, and then returned for landing. The witness reported that during this landing attempt, when the helicopter was again about 30 ft above the ground, it began spinning to the left and then impacted the ground. According to a friend of the pilot, about 2 months before the accident, the pilot had experienced a similar loss of control in the accident helicopter in which the helicopter rapidly spun to the left three times just before landing. The pilot then gained altitude, regained control, and flew away from the landing site. The pilot checked the controls and then came in and landed without incident. The pilot told his friend that, after the helicopter started spinning left, he shut off the automatic throttle governor and was able to recover. When the pilot was interviewed about 1.5 years after the accident, he reported that, during the previous flight when he lost helicopter control, he believed that he came in a little too fast and, since the governor did not work well and the helicopter did not have a lot of horsepower to correct or recover, that could have caused the spins. Regarding the accident, he stated that "I would like to think it was the helicopter, but it could have been me." The majority of the helicopter, including the engine governor and engine management system, was consumed by a postcrash fire and could not be examined. Examination of the surviving components did not reveal any evidence of a preexisting failure or malfunction of the flight control system or engine. Although the loss of control was consistent with the pilot failing to maintain control during the landing approach and experiencing a loss of tail rotor effectiveness, the postcrash fire damage precluded determination of whether a mechanical failure played a role in the loss of control.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Loss of control
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have chosen to land earlier or avoid landing when feeling unstable.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 8 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents8

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