- Date
- September 15, 2020, 16:53 local (21:53 UTC)
- Place
- Fort Worth, TX
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N489DMBell 407
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200915021479A
- Case key
- 101980
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
The flight instructor’s delay in rolling the throttle to the fly position during a practice autorotation maneuver that resulted in a hard landing.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
During a routine training flight, the helicopter was in the traffic pattern practicing power recovery auto-rotations, with the pilot under training at the flight controls. During the 5th practice auto-rotation, the flight instructor reduced the throttle, and the helicopter began a normal descent. During the deceleration flare, about 75 ft above ground level, the flight instructor heard the low rotor RPM audio tone. Using a positive transfer of control, the flight instructor quickly took the flight controls. He increased the throttle to what he believed to be the “FLY” position. The helicopter settled onto a taxiway. The main rotor blades severed the vertical fins on the horizontal stabilizer, and the tail rotor driveshaft was severed. The operator reported that the pilot did not rapidly roll the throttle to the “FLY” position during the deceleration/flare, and the helicopter contacted the ground at less than 100% rotor RPM. The operator stated that there were no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operations.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N489DM
- Reported as
- Bell 407 (No Series)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 53619
- Built
- 2004
- Airframe hours
- 4,775
- Engine
- Rolls-Royc 250-C47B, 650 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Dea
- Registered owner
- Dea
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 2020 · 36 hours before
- Departed
- AFW · Fort Worth, TX
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- AFW · Fort Worth
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Data recorder, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Satellite tracking device
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 28, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 10,300 total · 912 in this make and model · 9,290 as pilot in command · 145 in the last 90 days · 85 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 41
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 14, 2020
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,017 total · 135 in this make and model · 878 as pilot in command · 129 in the last 90 days · 37 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- AFW, 1 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 12, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.