Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Beach Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Long Beach, California 90806
Saturday, November 22, 1997 9:36 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the autorotation, the student allowed the aircraft to descend lower than he had previously and was instructed to increase his flare. The student said he believed this now meant that they would be executing a full touchdown autorotation; however, he did not confirm this with the instructor. As he leveled the aircraft a sink rate developed. The instructor reached for the controls to reapply throttle but did not announce his intention. The student held the throttle at idle and pulled pitch delaying the instructor's efforts with his tight grip on the controls. The aircraft fell though, landing hard on the left skid. The aircraft bounced and rolled onto its left side. The instructor had not briefed the student on the performance standards before executing the maneuver, nor had he announced the method to be used for a positive transfer of controls. The student did not verify the instructor's performance standards, recognize the excessive rate of descent, or relinquish control of the throttle.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flight instructor's failure to thoroughly brief his student on the performance standards of the proposed autorotation and the method to be used for a positive transfer of controls. The student's failure to verify the performance standards of the autorotation, to recognize an excessive rate of descent, and to relinquish control of the throttle to the instructor were factors in this accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/22/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 936 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | LONG BEACH |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90806 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LONG BEACH |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGB |
| 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 | 57 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 856 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LBG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 16000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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) | 1554 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 22 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 950 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N45SG |
| NTSB Number | LAX98LA042 |
| 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 | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1472 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 24 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 56 |
| Airframe Hours | 1386 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WATSON HELICOPTER ENTERPRISES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 SILVERSIDE ROAD SUITE 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JACK WATSON |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 12653 OSBORNE STREET |
| Operator City | PACOIMA |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 91331 |
| Operator Code | OBNL |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | External Load |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | WHP |
| Departure City | PACOIMA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LGB |
| 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 | -- |