Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bolzano Italy
Monday, December 4, 2000 12:00
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On December 4, 2000, at 1200 Greenwich Mean Time, a Robinson R-22 helicopter, N40630, was substantially damaged from collision with terrain during a practice autorotation at Bolzano, Italy. The pilot and the passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight that originated at Bolzano, exact time unknown.
The pilot reported to a Safety Board investigator that he was practicing autorotations, and completing the maneuver with a powered recovery. He said that during the recovery phase, the engine did not respond and he touched down in a tail low attitude. The tail boom was bent up and the main rotor made contact with the tail boom and severed it. The severed tail boom came to rest about 60 feet from the helicopter.
The pilot further reported that he was reducing power for the maneuver without application of carburetor heat. He stated that an explanation for the power loss might be carburetor ice.
The weather at the time of the accident was scattered clouds at 4,000 feet with a broken ceiling at 6,000 feet and 5 miles of visibility. The temperature was 48 degrees and the dewpoint was 42 degrees.
The Italian Government has jurisdiction over the investigation and requests for information should be forwarded to:
Accident Investigation Office Direzione Generale Aviazione Civile Via Cristoforo Colombo 420 00145 Roma, Italy
tel: (39) 6 5484 410 fax: (39) 6 5484 657
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/4/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | BOLZANO |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | ITALY |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1200 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LIP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| 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) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 2 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | Foreign |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 0 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 4 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 26 2002 11:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N40630 |
| NTSB Number | IAD01WA018 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Non-U.S., Commercial |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R-22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | R-22 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Unknown |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3511 SILVERSIDE RD STE 105 |
| Operator City | WILMINGTON |
| Operator State | DE |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | 19810 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LIPB |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| 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 | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 21 2001 11:53AM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| 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 | -- |