- Date
- January 13, 1995, 09:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Chandler, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9876DRotorway Rotorway
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 18, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950113000589A
- Case key
- 29013
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 use of the helicopter's flight controls and the instructor's inadequate 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
While practicing landings, the student was handling the controls. The CFI reported that as the helicopter was touching down it began drifting 'slightly left.' The left skid dug into the underlying soft grassy field and the helicopter rolled over. The wind was calm at the time of the accident.
Factual narrative
On January 13, 1995, at 0900 mountain standard time, a Cobb International, Inc., Rotorway Exec 90, N9876D, rolled over on landing at the Stellar Airpark, Chandler, Arizona. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the instructional flight, and neither the commercial pilot nor student pilot was injured. The helicopter was substantially damaged. The flight originated from Chandler, Arizona, at 0800.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) coordinator reported that he spoke with the flight instructor (CFI). The CFI indicated that during the normal landing approach he gave the controls to his 7-hour total time student. The student improperly applied collective and cyclic controls, the left skid dug into the soft ground, and the experimental category helicopter rolled over. There was no fire.
In the CFI's completed "Aircraft Accident Report," NTSB Form 6120.1/2, the CFI indicated that both he and his student were on the controls at the time of the accident. The CFI further reported that the flight lesson had involved practicing "pick-up and set downs." Just before the helicopter had made ground contact, a "slight left drift began" which caused the left skid to contact and dig into the soft ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9876D
- Reported as
- Rotorway Rotorway
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- SC28
- Airframe hours
- 466
- Engine
- Rotorway RW-162, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Rotorway International
- Registered owner
- Cobb Rotorway Exec. 90
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · January 1, 1995 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- P19
- Destination
- P19 · AZ
- Airport
- P19 · Steller Airpark
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
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 3,402 total · 255 in this make and model · 3,328 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 29 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F
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 N9876D · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.