Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Linden Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Linden, New Jersey 07036
Friday, January 3, 1997 13:30 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported 'While practicing full autorotations I attempted to demonstrate a 180 degree autorotation to the ground to the owner of the aircraft, who is himself is a private helicopter pilot. While turning to the touchdown spot I noticed the RPM decaying, I attempted to recover the RPM by entering the flare early and prior to completing the turn, however the helicopter mushed through the flare and impacted the ground at a high rate of descent, and caused damage to the rear cross tube. After the immediate impact the helicopter became airborne again and collective application was used to conclude the auto with the helicopter in an upright position.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot allowing the rotor RPM to decay and his failure to take remedial action in time to recover the autorotation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/3/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | LINDEN |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07036 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LINDEN |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LDJ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 23 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1851 GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EWR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | GMT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 14000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 7 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 3 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N555SJ |
| NTSB Number | NYC97LA041 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 308 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3000 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | J C AVIATION INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 111 INDUSTRIAL AVENUE HANGAR 1 |
| Aircraft Owner City | TERBORO |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07608 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | LIBERTY HELICOPTERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 111 INDUSTRIAL AVENUE HANGAR 1 |
| Operator City | TETERBORO |
| Operator State | NJ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 07608 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |