ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 188866
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| Date: | Sunday 4 May 2003 |
| Time: | 12:09 |
| Type: |  Robinson R-22 Beta |
| Owner/operator: | Patriot Aviation Ltd |
| Registration: | G-WRLY |
| MSN: | 0699 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1987 |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-320-B2C |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Cranfield Aerodrome, Cranfield, Bedfordshire -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Cranfield, Bedfordshire (EGTC) |
| Cranfield, Bedfordshire (EGTC) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (damaged beyond repair) 04-05-2003 when crashed on take off at Cranfield Aerodrome, Cranfield, Bedfordshire. During pre-flight checks the aircraft lifted into a hover and began to rotate before rolling onto its side. The student pilot (the sole person on board) suffered minor injuries. According to the following excerpt from the official AAIB report into the accident:
"The student pilot had been authorised to carry out the pre-flight checks, start the aircraft, as he had done on over 30 previous occasions, and wait for his instructor to join him. Having engaged the rotors and accelerated them to 100% RPM, he was checking that the low RPM horn and caution light came on as the RPM decreased through 97%.
To achieve this the pilot had to raise the collective lever slightly before reducing the amount of throttle because the horn and caution light are disabled with the collective lever in the fully down position. The pilot stated that he followed this procedure with the cyclic and collective frictions 'ON' and the governor 'OFF'.
Having decreased the RPM to 90% the horn and caution light had still not activated. The pilot lowered the collective and opened the throttle to regain 100% RPM. Suspecting that he may not have raised the collective sufficiently, the pilot decided to repeat the procedure. He again raised the collective and started to reduce the amount of throttle.
As the RPM was approaching 97% the pilot noticed that the aircraft had begun to rotate, as he recalls, in an anti-clockwise direction and he visually checked the position of the yaw pedals to ensure that the rotation was not the result of an input by him. He observed that the yaw pedals were centralised. By this stage the rate of rotation had
increased and the pilot became aware that the aircraft was lifting off the ground.
In what he described as a rapid sequence of events, the aircraft span round three or four times, lifted into a two foot hover and, as he attempted to lower the collective, rolled right and descended on to the ground coming to
rest on its right side. The pilot heard the low RPM horn sounding and noticed fuel spilling on to the apron from behind his right shoulder. He switched off the fuel shut off valve and the master switch and exited the aircraft through the left door. He had suffered minor injuries but there was no fire.
ATC became aware of the accident when they were advised by the pilot of a single engine light aircraft which was carrying out engine checks prior to takeoff. This pilot did not see the accident occurring, only the aftermath."
Nature of Damage: Per the AAIB repport "Substantial damage to the main rotor system, transmission, fuselage and engine". The damaged was presumably enough to render the airframe as "beyond economic repair", as the registration G-WRLT was cancelled by the CA on 09-09-2003 as "Permanently withdrawn from use".
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ff6f40f0b6134200092f/dft_avsafety_pdf_024586.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=WRLY
3. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=3
4. http://www.planetrace.co.uk/r22_0501-1000_29.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Jul-2016 20:35 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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