- Date
- April 29, 2024, 20:15 local (Apr 30, 2024, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Louisburg, NC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N7535ZRobinson Helicopter R22 Beta
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern downwind: Loss of engine power (total)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- Case key
- 194192
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 pilot under instruction’s inadvertent use of the mixture control, which resulted in a total loss of engine power.
Findings · 2
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 and the student pilot of the helicopter were practicing takeoffs and landings in the airport traffic pattern. During the downwind leg of the second pattern, while the flight instructor was performing pre-landing checks, the student pilot asked the flight instructor if he could activate the carburetor heat, to which the instructor replied in the affirmative. Immediately after, the engine lost power completely and the low rotor rpm warning system activated. The flight instructor and student pilot then realized that the student had inadvertently manipulated the mixture control. The flight instructor took then control of the helicopter, entered an autorotation, and aimed for an open field. During the landing, the main rotor blade struck the tailboom, severing it from the helicopter. While securing the helicopter, the instructor confirmed that the mixture control was pulled out, with the plastic guard around its base. The flight instructor reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7535Z
- Reported as
- Robinson Helicopter R22 Beta
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3477
- Built
- 2003
- Airframe hours
- 5,859
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-J2A, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 2024 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- LHZ · Louisburg, NC
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- LHZ · Triangle North Executive, runway 23, 5,500 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, 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
- 51
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,352 total · 515 in this make and model · 1,303 as pilot in command · 237 in the last 90 days · 86 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1 total · 1 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- RWI, 10 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KRWI 300053Z AUTO 17003KT 10SM CLR 22/16 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP172 T02170161
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 30, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 9.2 MB in all.
Other investigations on N7535Z · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.