WPR25LA101

After the pilot undergoing instruction completed a series of practice maneuvers, the flight instructor assumed the controls and initiated a hover taxi to return the helicopter to the ramp. During the hover taxi, the helicopter shuddered and yawed abruptly to the right. Despite the instructor's reduction of throttle and collective, the yaw developed into an uncontrolled spin, and the helicopter impacted terrain. The pilot undergoing instruction reported that the final maneuver the pilot had performed before the hover taxi was a full-down autorotation. She reported that, during the maneuver’s landing flare, the helicopter struck the ground hard enough that she believed the tail stinger contacted the ground. The pilots paused to assess the helicopter, and it appeared undamaged. She reported that because the instructor remained concerned, they elected to end the training flight and return for further inspection of the helicopter. Although the instructor did not characterize the landing as hard, examination of the helicopter revealed upward bending and buckling of the lower vertical stabilizer and stinger, upward deformation of the tail boom, and rotational scoring on the tail rotor drive shaft consistent with contact with the tail rotor pitch control rod during a hard landing. These findings are consistent with a preaccident tail strike that compromised the structural integrity of the tail boom and damaged the tail rotor drive system. The structure ultimately failed as the helicopter was being taxied.

On February 22, 2025, about 1620, a Hughes OH-6A helicopter, N4191T, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The flight instructor and pilot undergoing instruction were not injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The flight instructor had flown the helicopter with its owner earlier that day and reported that the flight was uneventful. The accident flight was intended as refresher training for the pilot undergoing instruction rather than a formal flight review. According to the instructor, they performed a series of practice maneuvers for about 30 minutes. After completing the maneuvers, he assumed the flight controls and initiated a hover taxi from the end of runway 28 to the helicopter pad, located about 500 ft to the southwest. About midway through the hover taxi, the occupants felt a shudder in the airframe, and the helicopter immediately yawed to the right. The flight instructor reduced the throttle to idle and lowered the collective. The yaw developed into a spin, and the helicopter struck terrain on the slope of a gravel pit. The helicopter came to rest upright on a southwest heading, with the tail boom severed just aft of the engine. The tail rotor assembly, including the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, was located about 100 ft behind the helicopter (figure 1). Figure 1 – Helicopter at accident site (photo provided by the FAA) The pilot undergoing instruction provided a similar statement but reported that during the final maneuver, the instructor demonstrated a full-down autorotation to the runway 28 run-up area. During the landing flare, the helicopter struck the ground hard enough that she believed the tail stinger contacted the ground. The pilots paused to assess the helicopter, and it appeared undamaged. She reported that because the instructor remained concerned, they elected to terminate the training flight and return for further inspection of the helicopter. In a subsequent statement, the instructor reiterated that the helicopter did not experience a hard landing. Examination of the wreckage revealed no anomalies with the engine, drivetrain, or flight control system that would have precluded normal operation. The separated tail boom components exhibited twisting and tearing damage consistent with main rotor contact. No evidence of corrosion or preexisting fatigue was observed. Figure 2 – Helicopter damage The lower vertical stabilizer and stinger assembly exhibited upward and aft bending and buckling damage, and the tail boom remnants exhibited a pronounced upward bend at the fuselage attachment point (figure 2). Within the tail boom, the tail rotor drive shaft exhibited rotational scoring consistent with contact between the drive shaft and the tail rotor pitch control rod (figure 3). Figure 3 – Tail rotor drive shaft rotational scoring