Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St Lucie County Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fort Pierce, Florida 34982
Wednesday, May 9, 1990 16:03 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE HELICOPTER WAS ON A VFR CLIMBOUT FROM A PARALLEL TAXIWAY. THE CFI, WHO WAS ALSO THE PIC, WAS PROVIDING INSTRUCTION TO AN ATP WORKING TOWARDS A CFI RATING. THE CFI INITIATED A SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE AT 200 FEET AGL AND 60 KTS. THE ATP BEGAN AN AUTOROTATION. AFTER COMPLETING THE DECELERATION AND INITIAL PITCH PULL, THE HELICOPTER CONTACTED THE GROUND, BOUNCED UP, AND SLID TO THE RIGHT AND REARWARD. THE ATP SAW A TAXIWAY LIGHT AND INCREASED COLLECTIVE TO AVOID A COLLISION, BUT EXPERIENCED RESISTANCE ON THE FLIGHT CONTROLS. THE CFI HAD NOT SEEN THE TAXIWAY LIGHT, BUT NOTICED A DECAY IN ENGINE/ROTOR RPM. HE IMMEDIATELY APPLIED DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON THE COLLECTIVE AND LEFT FORWARD CYCLIC TO STOP THE HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT AND LEVEL THE HELICOPTER. THE CFI STATED THAT HE INFORMED THE ATP, HE HAD THE FLIGHT CONTROLS, WHICH COULD NOT BE SUBSTANTIATED BY THE ATP. THE HELICOPTER STRUCK THE TAXIWAY LIGHT AND TAXIWAY WITH THE RIGHT SKID, THEN ENTERED A DYNAMIC ROLLOVER.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
IMPROPER TOUCHDOWN DURING THE AUTOROTATION BY THE DUAL STUDENT (ATP), HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN RUNWAY ALIGNMENT, INADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY THE CFI, AND INADEQUATE CREW COORDINATION. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE OBSTRUCTION (TAXIWAY LIGHT).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/9/1990 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1603 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | FORT PIERCE |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 34982 |
| Event Date Year | 1990 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ST LUCIE COUNTY INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FPR |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 24 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1607 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FPR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 24 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 25 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 200 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 9 1990 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1700 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 40919 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 4:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N58275 |
| NTSB Number | MIA90FA117 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | HUGHES |
| Aircraft Model | 269C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 269C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1190849 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2050 |
| 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 | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 4 1990 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 14 |
| Airframe Hours | 3559 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FLIGHT SAFETY INTERNATIONAL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 2708 |
| Aircraft Owner City | VERO BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32960 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | FLIGHT SAFETY INTERNATIONAL |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 2708 |
| Operator City | VERO BEACH |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 32960 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | VRB |
| Departure City | VERO BEACH |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1540 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | 4776 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |