# Incident 20150512023719I: American Eurocopter Corp AS350B3, Mesa, AZ, May 12, 2015

- Type: FAA incident report (Accident/Incident Data System), as reported
- Date: May 12, 2015, 01:30 local time
- Place: Mesa, AZ
- Airport: Williams Gateway
- Damage: Minor damage
- Phase of flight: Hover/Holding
- Operating rules: Air taxi and commuter (Part 135)
- Operator: VE7A
- Location: 33.4223° N, 111.8226° W: Placed by OpenAirDocs: center of Mesa, AZ, within about 7 miles (OpenAirDocs)
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=33.4223&lon=-111.8226&mi=10
- Aircraft: N386P, registered now (https://openairdocs.org/aircraft/N386P) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry model: American Eurocopter AS350B3 (registry code 1145004, https://openairdocs.org/model/american-eurocopter-as350b3) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: Turbomeca ARRIEL-2D (registry code 60080, https://openairdocs.org/engine/turbomeca-arriel-2d) (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: AMERICAN EUROCOPTER CORP AS350B3
- Reported engine: TURBOMECA ARRIEL 2D
- People aboard: 3
- Fatal injuries: 0
- Other injuries: 0
- Pilot certificates: Commercial pilot, flight instructor
- Pilot flight hours: 3,112 total, 925 in this make and model, 55 in the last 90 days
- FAA source: FAA Aviation Safety Information Portal (https://asip.faa.gov/)
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/incident/20150512023719I

## Narrative

As the FAA filed it, in capitals; the FAA replaces private details with ^PRIVACY DATA OMITTED^.

CREW  WAS CONDUCTING HOVER/AUTOROTATION TRAINING. TRAINER BRIEFED MANUEVER AND CONDUCTED A TOTAL OF THREE HOVER/AUTOROTATION EVENTS. HOVER WAS ESTABLISHED INTO THE WIND AT A HEIGHT OF 3 FT. FIRST EVENT LANDING WAS STATED AS FIRM BUT NOT CLASSIFIED AS A HARD LANDING.  CREW THEN PERFORMED TWO ADDITIONAL HOVER/AUTOROTATIONS WITH NO ISSUES NOTED.  AIRCRAFT WAS SHUT DOWN FOR CREW SWAP. PILOT IN COMMAND DURING HIS POST FLIGHT WALK AROUND NOTICED EVIDENCE OF PAINT CRACKING IN TAIL-BOOM ATTACHMENT POINT AREA.  MAINTENANCE WAS CONTACTED AND AIRCRAFT WAS TAKEN OUT OF SERVICE.

From the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. Reports are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. For accidents, the NTSB's own investigation is the fuller record.

---
OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.