- Date
- May 11, 1990, 09:55 local (13:55 UTC)
- Place
- Chamblee, GA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2579WRobinson R22 Beta
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900511016499A
- Case key
- 8238
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
Failure of the student (rated) pilot to maintain control of the helicopter, and insufficient supervision by the instructor pilot (CFI).
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 instructional flight was for recurrent training of the helicopter rated student pilot. Two hovering autorotations had been completed successfully with the instructor following the student on the controls. The instructor then informed the student that the next one was his, completely. The student pilot brought the helicopter to an approximately eighteen inch hover, turned into the wind, and after the count of three, rolled off the throttle. The helicopter started to rotate to the left, when it touched down with one skid, then it rolled over on its left side. The instructor's experience of 9032 hours included 2703 hours as instructor in the R22. The student's experience of 134 hours included 65 hours in the R22.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2579W
- Reported as
- Robinson R22 Beta
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 630
- Airframe hours
- 1,925
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Prestige Helicopters, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Fast, E.W. Jr.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 4, 1990 · 53 hours before
- Airport
- PDK · Dekalb-Peachtree, runway 16, 3,966 × 150 ft, 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
- 56
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,032 total · 3,436 in this make and model · 8,587 as pilot in command · 211 in the last 90 days · 62 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- PDK
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.