Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Falcon Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mesa, Arizona 86215
Wednesday, November 15, 2000 10:30 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A practice autorotation to touchdown resulted in a hard landing and bent the tail boom of the helicopter at the fuselage attachment juncture. After first demonstrating a practice autorotation to touchdown, the instructor turned control of the helicopter over to the student to perform the next autorotation to landing. The instructor reported that the student's entry was abrupt resulting in first, high rotor rpm, then low rpm; however, the rpm was proper prior to initiating the landing flare. The student's initial pitch application during the flare was a little too high but satisfactory. As the aircraft neared the landing, additional collective was applied, but it was insufficient to check the sink rate and the heels of the skids made ground contact, rocking the helicopter first forward onto the toe of the skid and then back down on the full skid. The pilot heard a metallic sound and, on external inspection, found the tail boom was bent down.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The dual student's misjudged landing flare and level off, which resulted in a heel first touchdown and subsequent hard landing during a practice autorotation. Also causal was the instructor pilot's inadequate supervision of the student.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/15/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | MESA |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86215 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | FALCON FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FFZ |
| 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 | 1394 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1059 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FFZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1394 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| 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) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 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) | 791 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 20 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N972AE |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA042 |
| 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 | Eurocopter |
| Aircraft Model | AS 350B-3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AS 350B-3 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3234 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4961 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 6 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 278 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BANC ONE LEASING CORP. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1111 POLARIS PKWY, STE A3 |
| Aircraft Owner City | COLUMBUS |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 43240 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | PETROLEUM HELICOPTERS, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO BOX 90808 |
| Operator City | LAFAYETTE |
| Operator State | LA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 70509 |
| Operator Code | HEEA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | FFZ |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:05AM |
| 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 | -- |