- Date
- February 22, 1989, 11:40 local (16:40 UTC)
- Place
- Spring Valley, NY
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N5793PAerospatiale AS-350D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 10, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890222002389A
- Case key
- 36272
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
Failure of the FAA flight examiner (f/e) to follow proper procedures concerning the autorotation, and improper remedial action by the pilot-in-command (PIC). Factors related to the accident were: lack of information in the flight manual concerning autorotations, the flight examiner's lack of experience in the aircraft, and the soft terrain and mound of dirt (dirt bank) in the emergency landing area.
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 PIC & an FAA examiner (f/e) were on a part 135 check flt. Abt 900' to 1000' AGL, the f/e initiated an autorotation (a/r) with intentions of a pwr recovery, altho no procedure for performing pwr recovery fm an a/r was published in the flt manual (f/m). He initiated the a/r by movg the fuel flow control/power lever (ffc) out of the full fwd (pwr locked) psn. At abt 400' AGL & 65 KTS, the ffc was psnd back to the full fwd (detent) psn. At abt 65' AGL, the PIC initiated a flare with collective pitch ctl, but the eng lacked response. The PIC contd the a/r to touchdown on soft trrn. Drg the lndg, the tail rotor struck a mound of dirt, both tail rotor blades sepd, then the helicopter rolled on its rgt side & came to rest. Inv revealed the governor anticipator would not have activated until collective pitch was applied & the eng could take up to 9 sec to spool up. F/m addressed only full stop (a/r) lndgs. Manual for aerospatiale instructors restricted pwr rcvry to 200' AGL. No mech stop was provided to keep the eng fm going blo 50% drg pwr rdcn for a/r.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5793P
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-350D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1476
- Airframe hours
- 2,161
- Engine
- Lycoming LTS-101, 235 lbs thrust, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- J. Fletcher Creamer & Son Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · December 8, 1988 · 57 hours before
- Departed
- KTEB · Teterboro, NJ
- Airport
- N-2Y · Spring Valley Heliport
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
- 42
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,194 total · 1,538 in this make and model · 5,806 as pilot in command · 67 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,700 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 39 °F, dew point -0 °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 N5793P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.