- Date
- August 23, 1999, 11:40 local (16:40 UTC)
- Place
- Russellville, AR
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N44KHHughes 269B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 5, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19990823013339A
- Case key
- 47138
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 improper touchdown by the flight instructor.
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 flight instructor was practicing an autorotation terminating with power to the sod area between the taxiway and runway. The flight instructor stated that the engine lost power after he initiated the autorotation by lowering the collective and reducing the throttle to idle. The helicopter touched down 'hard' in a nose high attitude. The main rotor blades contacted the tailboom, severing it about 24 inches forward of the tail rotor gearbox. The helicopter rotated about 160 degrees to the left and came to a stop upright. According to the FAA inspector, an engine run was completed with no duplication of power loss.
Factual narrative
On August 23, 1999, at 1140 central daylight time, a Hughes 269B helicopter, N44KH, was substantially damaged during a practice autorotational landing at the Russellville Regional Airport, Russellville, Arkansas. The helicopter was owned and operated by Metco Helicopters, Inc., of Springdale, Arkansas. The flight instructor was not injured and his pilot rated passenger sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 local personal flight.
The flight instructor reported to the FAA inspector that he was practicing an autorotation, terminating with power, to the sod area between the taxiway and runway, near the eastern end of the runway. The flight instructor stated that the engine lost power after he initiated the autorotation by lowering the collective and reducing the throttle to idle. The helicopter touched down "hard" in a nose high attitude. The main rotor blades contacted the tailboom severing it about 24 inches forward of the tail rotor gearbox. The helicopter rotated about 160 degrees to the left and came to a stop upright.
According to the FAA inspector, the main rotor blades were removed, and an engine run was completed with no duplication of power loss.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44KH
- Reported as
- Hughes 269B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 96-0249
- Airframe hours
- 3,600
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Metco Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- RUE
- Airport
- RUE · Russellville Municipal
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
- 39
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,298 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 5 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RUE
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.