- Date
- September 15, 2021, 10:50 local (14:50 UTC)
- Place
- Romeo, MI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Emergency descent
- Aircraft
- N632SDEurocopter AS350
- Defining event
- Autorotation: 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
- Federal Aviation Administration - East Michigan FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210915015759A
- Case key
- 103911
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 failure to reposition the fuel control to the flight detent during a practice autorotation, which resulted in insufficient engine power to arrest the helicopter’s decent and a hard landing.
Findings · 1
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
The flight instructor reported that he intended to demonstrate to the student pilot a 180° autorotation with a power recovery near the ground. He planned to transition the helicopter into to a hover about 5 to 10 ft above ground level at the end of the maneuver. The instructor initially set the engine fuel control to the idle detent to simulate an engine failure and then entered an autorotation. As the autorotation progressed, the flight instructor repositioned the engine fuel control, but he failed to ensure that it had been placed into the flight detent. Without sufficient engine power at the end of the maneuver, the helicopter continued to descend with a low rotor speed, landed hard, and slid to a stop on the runway. Then the helicopter violently rocked side to side before the main rotor stopped rotating. During the accident sequence, the helicopter sustained substantial damage to a main rotor Starflex arm and the tail rotor driveshaft. Both the flight instructor and his student reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N632SD
- Reported as
- Eurocopter AS350 (B2)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3519
- Built
- 2002
- Airframe hours
- 6,357
- Engine
- Turbomeca Arriel 1D1, 732 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- County Of Oakland
- Registered owner
- County Of Oakland
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 13, 2020
- Departed
- D95 · Lapeer, MI
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- D98 · Romeo State Airport, runway 18/36, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 19, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,760 total · 55 in this make and model · 338 as pilot in command · 31 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 34
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 28 total · 28 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 12 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 21,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 28, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 8.0 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.