WPR18LA031

The commercial pilot was conducting a personal flight in the helicopter to practice operating in the traffic pattern and performing landings and hovers. When the helicopter was transitioning from a hover to forward flight, the nose suddenly pitched down more than expected. The pilot immediately applied aft cyclic but was unable to arrest the downward pitch. The helicopter subsequently impacted the ground and came to rest on its side. The passenger reported that first the skids and then the rotor blades contacted the ground. During a postaccident examination of the helicopter, flight control continuity was established with no anomalies noted that would have precluded normal operations. Thus, the pilot likely did not maintain a proper pitch attitude while transitioning to forward flight.

On November 11, 2017, about 1300 mountain standard time, a Robinson R44 helicopter, N744BS, impacted terrain during takeoff from the Page Municipal Airport (PGA), Page, Arizona. The commercial pilot and passenger sustained minor injuries; the helicopter sustained substantial damage. The helicopter was registered to R44 White LLC and operated by the pilot as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight originally departed about 1245. The pilot reported the purpose of the flight was to practice in the traffic pattern, landings, and hovers. After a normal traffic pattern and landing, he hovered the helicopter. While the helicopter was transitioning from hover to forward flight, the nose suddenly pitched down steeper than the pilot expected. The pilot immediately applied aft cyclic, however, he was unable to recover. The helicopter impacted the ground and came to rest on its side. The passenger reported that the helicopter started to lift off; when it was about one foot above the ground, the helicopter started leaning forward and it continued forward until the skids, then rotor blades, touched the ground. During a postaccident examination of the helicopter, the collective, cyclic, and left anti-torque pedal were manipulated within the cockpit and corresponding motion was observed at the appropriate flight controls. The right anti-torque pedal moved freely from both within the cockpit and from the tailboom; however, no corresponding motion was observed. Visual examination revealed the control tube was fracture separated underneath the heavily damaged floorboard. The operator reported that, on the morning of the accident, the owner of the helicopter flew about two hours with the pilot to orient him in the make/model helicopter involved in the accident.