Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hana Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hana, Maui, Hawaii 96713
Sunday, January 30, 2000 8:30 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During landing approach at the completion of a solo cross-country flight, the student pilot was slowing below 30 knots to enter a hover when the helicopter began spinning to the right. The student was unable to arrest the right yaw and entered an autorotation, which terminated in a rotating collision with terrain 137 feet short of the runway. He was attempting to land with a left crosswind and/or quartering tailwind from a direction and at a speed conducive to a tail rotor vortex ring state condition. The condition results in tail rotor thrust variations, which can require rapid and continuous pedal movements to maintain heading and cause unanticipated right yaw rates to develop. If the yaw rate is not controlled immediately, the helicopter can rotate into a wind azimuth region where weather cock instability will accelerate the right yaw. This condition will be aggravated at airspeeds below 30 knots when the loss of translational lift results in an increased power demand (more torque) and a corresponding increase in antitorque requirement. The student's total flying experience and pilot-in-command time was about 60.6 and 5.2 hours, respectively.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student's failure to maintain directional control after encountering a tail rotor vortex ring state induced right yaw.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/30/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 830 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | HANA, MAUI |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96713 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | HANA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HNM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 78 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 900 Hawaii Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HNM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 78 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 73 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 64 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13581 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 30 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1102 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 1 2003 9:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N62DF |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA089 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R22B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R22B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1643 |
| 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 | Jan 15 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 70 |
| Airframe Hours | 1275 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MONA LOA HELICOPTERS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 110 KAPALULU PL |
| Aircraft Owner City | HONOLULU |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96819 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | MSC446, 75-1027 HENRY ST #111A |
| Operator City | KAILOU-KONA |
| Operator State | HI |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 96740 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | UPP |
| Departure City | HAWI |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HNM |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 3 2001 4:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 3606 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |