20180509010719I

Incident · Substantial damage

FAA incident report · Bell UH-1H · Minden, NV · May 9, 2018

Date
May 9, 2018 · 14:30 local
Place
Minden, NV
Airport
Minden-Tahoe
Phase of flight
Landing: Touchdown
Operating rules
General operating rules (Part 91)
Damage
Substantial damage
Aircraft
N777SF
Reported as
Bell UH-1H
People aboard
2
Fatal injuries
0
Other injuries
0

From the FAA’s Accident/Incident Data System (AIDS), through its Aviation Safety Information Portal, as reported. The NTSB investigates accidents separately, and its record of an accident is the fuller one. The aircraft is matched to the registry 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.

What happened

The FAA’s narrative, in sentence case. The FAA writes it in capitals and removes private details.

Aircract completed cyclic rigging maintenance.

Aircraft was conducting post maintenace test flight.

Aircraft experienced loss of tail rotor control.

Pilot entered a hovering autorotation to stop uncommanded yaw in the clockwise direction.

Aircraft rotated 4 rotations impacting the ground upright collapsing the skid tube landing gear and puncturing a hole in the belly of the fusalage.

As the FAA filed it

AIRCRACT COMPLETED CYCLIC RIGGING MAINTENANCE.

AIRCRAFT WAS CONDUCTING POST MAINTENACE TEST FLIGHT.

AIRCRAFT EXPERIENCED LOSS OF TAIL ROTOR CONTROL.

PILOT ENTERED A HOVERING AUTOROTATION TO STOP UNCOMMANDED YAW IN THE CLOCKWISE DIRECTION.

AIRCRAFT ROTATED 4 ROTATIONS IMPACTING THE GROUND UPRIGHT COLLAPSING THE SKID TUBE LANDING GEAR AND PUNCTURING A HOLE IN THE BELLY OF THE FUSALAGE.