ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 297875
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| Date: | Monday 6 May 2019 |
| Time: | 09:20 LT |
| Type: |  Bell 47G |
| Owner/operator: | |
| Registration: | N5990 |
| MSN: | 2396 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1992 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3360 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming VO-435-A1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Denton, Texas -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Denton Municipal Airport, TX (KDTO) |
| Denton Municipal Airport, TX (KDTO) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The student pilot reported that he hovered the helicopter to the parking pad and landed with the helicopter's nose facing north. The skid placement on the parking pad was incorrect, and the flight instructor directed the student to reposition the helicopter about 3 ft to the left. The student brought the helicopter to a hover and repositioned it 3 ft to the left.
However, before the student established a descent and landed, the helicopter encountered a tailwind gust. The nose pitched down, the rotor rpm decreased, and the helicopter traveled about 75 ft forward. The skids contacted the ground hard, and the helicopter came to an abrupt stop, upright and facing downslope. The main rotor blades struck the tail rotor drive shaft and the tailboom. The tail rotor gear box and the tail rotor separated from the helicopter.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor drive system, the tailboom, and the main rotor blades.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
The airport's METAR reported that, about the time of the accident, the wind was from 180° at 15 knots and that the cloud layer was broken at 800 ft.
Probable Cause: The flight instructor's improper decision to instruct the student pilot to establish a hover and reposition the helicopter with a tailwind, which resulted in the student pilot's loss of pitch control.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB GAA19CA250
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-Oct-2022 09:50 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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