Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Beach/Daugherty Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Long Beach, California 90815
Wednesday, March 21, 2001 11:45 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an autorotation, the pilot made a hard landing and the tail boom was severed. The purpose of the flight was to conduct pattern work, and takeoffs and landings to prepare the private pilot for his commercial pilot practical test flight. During the flight the private pilot was on the flight controls, with the CFI monitoring the flight. No discrepancies were noted with the first two takeoffs and landings. During the first autorotation, the CFI noted that the student allowed the airspeed to fall below 60 knots, and that the rotor rpm was moving outside the top of the green arc. He instructed the student to maintain airspeed at 65 knots until close to the ground, and to raise the collective to maintain rotor rpm inside the green arc. On the second autorotation, the CFI noted that the student maintained rotor rpm inside the green arc, but let the airspeed fall below 58 knots. The low rotor rpm warning horn sounded and the caution light illuminated. Due to the close proximity of the helicopter to the ground, a flare for landing was initiated. The CFI came up on the controls and noted that the collective was higher than normal. Prior to touchdown the CFI applied forward pressure on the cyclic to maintain a level attitude after touchdown. The helicopter landed hard and slid across the ground before coming to rest in a grassy area next to the helipad. The CFI noted that after coming to a stop he attempted to move the anti-torque pedals, but did not receive a response.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the CFI to adequately monitor the flight, which resulted in a low airspeed autorotation and hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/21/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Long Beach |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90815 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334903N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180905W |
| Event Location Airport | LONG BEACH/DAUGHERTY FIELD |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 58 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1206 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 58 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10949 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 21 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1228 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2001 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-LGB-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8492A |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA125 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson |
| Aircraft Model | R22B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1824 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 12 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38 |
| Airframe Hours | 5729 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Rainbow Air Academy, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2825 E. Spring St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Long Beach |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90806 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGB |
| Departure City | Long Beach |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1115 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | LGB |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 23 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | H1 |
| Runway Length | 20 |
| Runway Width | 20 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |