- Date
- March 24, 2002, 17:25 local (23:25 UTC)
- Place
- Bessemer, AL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7490FHughes 269C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 28, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FSDO FAA
- FAA report
- 20020324004179A
- Case key
- 54388
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 failure of the flight instructor to adequately monitor the student's rotorcraft control, resulting in an abrupt cyclic input causing a tail rotor strike of the terrain while entering a hover, and the resulting rollover during an uncontrolled descent.
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
At the successful completion of one practice straight-in autorotation to the grass area between the runway and taxiway, terminating with a power-on three foot hover, the CFI asked the student to repeat the same maneuver. On the second attempt, the student over controlled aft cyclic and caused a tail rotor strike before the CFI could recognize and counter the student's abrupt control input. The rotorcraft entered an uncontrolled right yaw until the landing skid caught the terrain, and rolled over on its right side. The student and CFI evacuated the rotorcraft out the left door, unhurt.
Factual narrative
On March 24, 2002, about 1725 central standard time, a Hughes HU-269C, N7490F, registered to a private individual, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, crashed on the Bessemer Airport, Bessemer, Alabama. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The rotorcraft sustained substantial damage, and the flight instructor and student were not injured. The flight originated about 25 minutes before the accident.
According to the instructor, the student was practicing power off autorotations to a power on recovery, terminating in a 3-foot hover over a grassy area between runway 23 and the taxiway. On this particular autorotation, the student did not apply power to accomplish the recovery, and the CFI brought in the power to salvage the maneuver. The student applied abrupt back cyclic, and the tail rotor struck the ground, even though the CFI was riding the cyclic controls with the student. Following the tail rotor strike, the rotorcraft started spinning to the right, the right landing skid dug into the terrain, and the rotorcraft rolled over on its right side. There were no malfunctions of the rotorcraft or its components involved.
According to an FAA inspector, the student induced the tail rotor strike by over controlling the cyclic control in the aft direction. The responsibility for the maintenance of control rests with the CFI, who allowed the maneuver to progress to a point that possibly exceeded his ability to identify and safely recover.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7490F
- Reported as
- Hughes 269C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 570596
- Airframe hours
- 7,602.4
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360 D1A, 190 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- John R. McDonald
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 23, 2002 · 5.2 hours before
- Departed
- EKY · Bessemer, AL
- Airport
- EKY · Bessemer, runway 23, 5,700 × 100 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Flight instructor
- Age
- 53
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- January 5, 2002
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,858 total · 535 in this make and model · 1,778 as pilot in command · 26 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 24
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 42 total · 41 in this make and model · 12 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.01 inHg
- Observed at
- EET, 10 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 2, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 445 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.