- Date
- August 25, 2003, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Columbia, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N58363Hughes 269C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 25, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20030825020949A
- Case key
- 57804
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 student pilot's improper execution of the autorotation. Also causal, was the CFI's delayed remedial action and supervision of the flight.
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 helicopter collided with terrain during a practice autorotative landing in a open field. The CFI was preparing the student for his commercial helicopter add-on rating. During the fourth autorotation landing attempt, the student held the landing flare too long and too low to the ground. The CFI felt the tail rotor strike the ground. He then came on to the controls and landed the helicopter after it had yawed 180 degrees.
Factual narrative
On August 25, 2003, about 1200 Pacific daylight time, a Hughes 269C, N58363, collided with terrain during a practice autorotation landing in an open field 6 miles southwest of Columbia Airport, Columbia, California. The helicopter was operated by the certified flight instructor (CFI)/owner under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91. The CFI and student pilot were not injured, and the helicopter sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan had not been filed. The flight originated at Columbia Airport about 1130.
The CFI stated in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2) that the student was preparing for his commercial helicopter add-on rating. They were practicing autorotations to an open field. During the fourth autorotation landing attempt, the student held the landing flare too long and too low to the ground. The CFI felt the tail rotor strike the ground. He then came onto the controls and landed the helicopter after it had yawed 180 degrees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N58363
- Reported as
- Hughes 269C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 690796
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-D1A, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- D-Bar Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- O22 · Columbia, CA
- Destination
- O22 · Columbia, CA
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
- 28
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 847 total · 725 in this make and model · 90 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
- Role
- Student pilot
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2
- Flight hours
- 1,000 total · 80 in this make and model · 90 in the last 90 days · 30 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.