- Date
- May 29, 1990, 19:00 local (May 30, 1990, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Torrance, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8557ZRobinson R22A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900529017849A
- Case key
- 26828
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
This accident was a dynamic roll over due to the right skid encountering soft soil during the forced landing.
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
According to statements from both the instructor and the student, four practice autorotations had already been performed with power recoveries prior to touch down. The pilots noted that the fifth autorotation proceeded normally until about 40 feet AGL when throttle and collective was added to begin the power recovery. According to both pilots statements, the engine did not respond when the throttle was increased. The helicopter touched down hard, slid along the ground and rolled over on its right side after the right skid encountered soft soil. The engine and helicopter were examined with no evidence of a system failure or malfunction. The engine was started in the helicopter and run for 10 minutes. During the test run, the engine was cycled throughout its normal operating range.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8557Z
- Reported as
- Robinson R22A
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 464
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 124 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Rolling Hills Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Rolling Hills Aviation, Inc
- Departed
- TOA
- Destination
- TOA
- Airport
- TOA · Torrance
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
- 28
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 645 total · 628 in this make and model · 594 as pilot in command · 360 in the last 90 days · 135 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TOA
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 N8557Z · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.