20150110001619A

On January 10, 2015, at 1037 atlantic standard time, a Robinson R22 beta, N348VH, operated by vertical solutions helicopter company, LLC, was destroyed when it impacted waters of san juan bay, off shore cataÑo, puerto rico. The student pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the local flight that originated at Fernando luis Ribas Dominicci airport (tjig), isla grande, san juan, puerto rico. The solo instructional flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 code of federal regulations part 91.

According to the student pilot's flight instructor, the student pilot arrived at the hangar about 0800 and began his preflight inspection of the helicopter. Upon completion of the inspection they spoke for about 20 minutes about the weather conditions at the airport, whether he had all of his documents on him, how long he would fly and what he would be practicing on the flight. They then wheeled the helicopter outside and the student pilot made final preparations for the flight.

About 0845, the student pilot started the helicopter and about 10 minutes later shut it down and walked to the hanger. He explained that the tower controller had said that his request to make right closed traffic patterns could not be accommodated at that time and to try again later. About 0920, the flight instructor phoned the tower to see if the flight could go and got an affirmative response, so he sent the student pilot back out to continue the flight.

The helicopter departed the ramp about 0930 and remained in the traffic pattern for approximately 1 hour. As the flight instructor was sitting in the hangar, he noticed that it was taking longer than normal since he had heard the helicopter go by. He stepped outside and visually located the helicopter in a left holding pattern south of the airport which was standard procedure when the tower needed sequencing for other aircraft, then he went back inside. A few more minutes went by and the flight instructor still had not heard the helicopter, so he went outside again, but was unable to locate the helicopter. He then noticed a ports authority vehicle driving towards the police hangar, and a minute or so later he saw one of the police helicopters begin to spin up. At that moment, the flight instructor suspected a problem so he called the control tower, the controller told him that he had seen the helicopter spinning and that it had then impacted the water by cataÑo point.

At approximetly 1230 hrs inspector hernandez and inspector cepeda arrived on scene and started the investigation, aircraft records and instructor statement where collected.

According another pilot, his low-wing airplane was number three approaching the airport, about 3 to 4 miles on a straight-in approach to runway 9, with the helicopter number two to land. The tower controller asked the pilot if he had the helicopter in sight, after which, the pilot saw an aircraft about ½ mile ahead, about the 2:30 positon (off the right side) of his airplane.

The pilot originally thought he saw a radio-controlled (rc) helicopter, because it was emitting white smoke from the back, as did the rc helicopters he was used to flying. He then saw it do a series of right 360-degree turns "around the rotor head," with the fuselage vertical, and realized it was a helicopter. While turning to the right, the helicopter climbed 100 to 200 feet, reaching an estimated 800 feet. As it did, the ends of both rotor blades coned upwards to where the blades tips were vertical, with the major bending occurring about ¼ blade span from the ends of the blades.

The witness then saw the helicopter's nose drop, and the helicopter entered a descent, spiraling downward to the right three or four times until it impacted the water. It hit the water heading east, nose down, right side down. Upon impact, the tailboom exploded off the rest of the airframe toward the west.