- Date
- August 29, 1996, 22:00 local (Aug 30, 1996, 05:00 UTC)
- Place
- Riverside, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N57RABell 47-G5
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report December 16, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960829025929A
- Case key
- 29553
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 pilot's inaccurate perception of altitude which resulted in an improper flare and subsequent hard landing, and non use of the landing light.
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 pilot was regaining night flying proficiency and was practicing a night autorotation landing from 3,000 feet without use of the aircraft's landing light. There was a full moon and the ground was visible. During the autorotation flare, he misjudged the aircraft's height above the surface, flared too high, and the helicopter dropped the last 4 or 5 feet. The aircraft landed hard with little energy in the main rotor and the rotor severed the tail boom. The pilot reported that he had no other night flying time in the previous 90 days, and that there were no mechanical malfunctions involved. He also said that the landing light was operational had he chosen to use it.
Factual narrative
On August 29, 1996, at 2200 hours Pacific daylight time, a Bell 47-G5, N57RA, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at the Riverside Municipal Airport, Riverside, California. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area personal flight and the commercial pilot was not injured.
The pilot reported that he was regaining night flying proficiency and was practicing a night autorotation landing from 3,000 feet without use of the aircraft's landing light. There was a full moon and the ground was visible. During the autorotation flare, he misjudged the aircraft's height above the surface, flared too high, and the helicopter dropped the last 4 or 5 feet. The aircraft landed hard with little energy in the main rotor and the rotor severed the tail boom. The pilot reported that he had no other night flying time in the previous 90 days, and that there were no mechanical malfunctions involved. He also said that the landing light was operational had he chosen to use it.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57RA
- Reported as
- Bell 47-G5
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 25006
- Airframe hours
- 5,013
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-B1A, 265 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Orco Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 26, 1996 · 45 hours before
- Departed
- RAL
- Airport
- RAL · Riverside Municipal, runway 34, 2,850 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- 29
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total · 600 in this make and model · 1,300 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.