- Date
- May 19, 2006, 15:05 local (19:05 UTC)
- Place
- Indiantown, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N14MYRobinson R-44
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 3, 2006
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 20060519015789A
- Case key
- 63727
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
A hard landing and subsequent nose down when the helicopter pilot misjudged the landing flare during a touchdown autorotation.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The private certificated helicopter pilot reported to the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) that he had practiced two or three autorotations at a grass/turf covered runway that terminated with a power recovery to a hover during a CFR Part 91 personal flight. He decided to perform a touch-down autorotation, and said that he pulled excessive collective pitch during the termination of the maneuver, and accelerated too much while leveling the helicopter at the conclusion of the deceleration flare. The helicopter touched down hard and tilted forward onto its nose, the forward portion of the right skid tube fractured, and the main rotor blades struck the ground and the tailboom.
Factual narrative
The private certificated helicopter pilot reported to the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) that he had practiced two or three autorotations at a grass/turf covered runway that terminated with a power recovery to a hover during a CFR Part 91 personal flight. He decided to perform a touch-down autorotation, and said that he pulled excessive collective pitch during the termination of the maneuver, and accelerated too much while leveling the helicopter at the conclusion of the deceleration flare. The helicopter touched down hard and tilted forward onto its nose, the forward portion of the right skid tube fractured, and the main rotor blades struck the ground and the tailboom.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N14MY
- Reported as
- Robinson R-44
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1149
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-F1B5, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Henry A. Perry
- Registered owner
- Henry A. Perry
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- SUA · Stuart, FL
- Destination
- X58 · Indiantown, FL
- Airport
- X58 · Indiantown, runway 31, grass/turf
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 58
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3
- Flight hours
- 3,464 total · 327 in this make and model · 74 in the last 90 days · 24 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.