- Date
- August 19, 1997, 16:45 local (22:45 UTC)
- Place
- Montrose, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N2243WBell 47G-3B-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 30, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19970819023179A
- Case key
- 20320
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 flight instructor (CFI) to properly supervise the flight and ensure that adequate rotor rpm was maintainted during the autorotation/landing. The high density altitude was a related factor.
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 commercial-rated student pilot was practicing power recovery autorotations with a flight instructor (CFI) monitoring. The rotor rpm was allowed to deteriorate, which resulted in a hard landing. The main rotor blades flexed downward and severed the tail boom from the helicopter. Density altitude at the time was 11,300 feet.
Factual narrative
On August 19, 1997, at 1645 mountain daylight time, a Bell 47G-3B-2 helicopter, N2243W, made a hard landing during an autorotation training flight 5 miles north of Montrose, Colorado. The certified flight instructor pilot and commercially certificated student were not injured and the helicopter sustained substantial damage. The flight was being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91 as an instructional flight and no flight plan was filed.
According to the flight instructor, the student was practicing power recovery autorotations and had completed nine. On the 10th autorotation, at approximately 20 feet, the student brought in power and leveled the aircraft and the instructor said he felt the throttle being applied. The low rotor horn sounded and the aircraft touched down hard causing the main rotor to flex and severe the tail boom.
Examination of the engine and drive train, by an FAA inspector, following the accident provided no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. Density altitude at the time was 11,300 feet above mean sea level and according to the flight instructor, they were operating into the wind, which was westerly at 10 to 15 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2243W
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-3B-2
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 6755
- Airframe hours
- 7,931
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 260 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- High Country Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 14, 1997 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- MTJ
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
- 60
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 9,418 total · 1,978 in this make and model · 9,189 as pilot in command · 67 in the last 90 days · 67 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MTJ, 5 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N2243W · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.