Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
French Valley, California Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Murietta, California 92563
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 19:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The instructor had just completed 30 minutes of hover practice with the student. The student landed the helicopter and the instructor deplaned to allow the student to execute his first solo flight. As the instructor watched, the student began to liftoff and immediately rolled to the right and crashed. According to the instructor, the helicopter never left the ground. The student had logged approximately 29 hours of dual instruction in the R22 prior to the accident. The instructor stated that he had done many pickups and set downs with the student just prior to the accident. He emphasized the differences in flight characteristics that the student would experience when the instructor was not in the helicopter. He explained that he had covered dynamic rollover situations in ground school sessions, including a Robinson factory training videotape on the subject. The instructor normally occupied the left seat of the helicopter during dual lessons. At the time of the accident, the student was occupying the right seat, and the left seat was empty. The solo flight was conducted on an asphalt helicopter landing pad. Inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration found no evidence of preaccident mechanical failure. The helipad was inspected and found to be clean, smooth, and free of obstructions. The instructor weighed 185 pounds, and the helicopter had consumed 30 pounds of fuel prior to the attempted solo flight. This made the helicopter 215 pounds lighter than the student was accustomed to. If the student did not exercise extreme caution to liftoff very slowly and deliberately, with the cyclic centered, a dynamic rollover would be very likely to occur. With an excessive input of collective, the helicopter at a light takeoff weight and the cyclic even slightly off center, the roll would be extremely rapid and nearly impossible to arrest.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The solo student's improper use of the flight controls that resulted in a dynamic rollover during the attempted takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/23/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Murietta |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92563 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | French Valley, California |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | F70 |
| 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 | 1350 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1855 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 325 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1538 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3234 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11087 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 24 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1145 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 28 2001 7:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2352G |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA190 |
| 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 | 2104 |
| 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 | Apr 6 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 12.4 |
| Airframe Hours | 3971.7 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Japan Pilot & English Institute in USA., Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 24050 Madison St. #203 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Torrance |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90505 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | F70 |
| Departure City | Murietta |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | F70 |
| Destination City | Murietta |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Hover - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 10 2001 1:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 4600 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |