Pilot Debrief

BELL-TRANSWORLD HELICOPTER COR 47G-2 near Wichita Falls, TX — 2013-08-28

Final reportCEN13LA523
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Date
2013-08-28
Location
Wichita Falls, TX, USA
Aircraft
BELL-TRANSWORLD HELICOPTER COR 47G-2
Registration
N8051E
Category
Helicopter
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0
Phase of flight
Maneuvering

Probable cause

The delayed remedial action by the flight instructor during a simulated autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing.

NTSB narrative

After the flight instructor initiated a simulated autorotation during an instructional flight, he instructed the student pilot to perform a power recovery. However, the student pilot delayed increasing the power, and the rotor rpm decayed. The flight instructor realized that it was too late to make a full recovery, so he took the flight controls and leveled the helicopter for touchdown and pulled the collective. The helicopter landed hard in a soft field, which resulted in damage to the tail rotor and main rotor blades. The flight instructor stated that he deviated from his normal procedure for recovery from a simulated forced landing and that, if he had used the procedure, the accident may not have happened.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Loss of control
First missed decision gate
Instructor deviated from normal recovery procedure during simulated forced landing.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 1 docket document
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents1

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