Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
New Jerusalem Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tracy, California 95377
Saturday, July 21, 2001 11:55 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor stated that he was demonstrating an autorotation to his student when the accident occurred. He said that he initiated a straight in autorotation to runway 30 at 600 feet above ground level (agl). The descent rate was stabilized until 200 feet agl, when he felt a sudden increase in the rate of descent. He began the flare at 50 feet agl. He stated that the vertical speed did not decrease at the rate he was accustomed to, resulting in a hard landing. He stated that the tail boom hit the ground first in a right yawing moment. The helicopter then rolled to the right, crushing the right skid, severing the tail boom, and allowing the rotor blades to contact the ground. He noted that no mechanical problems existed with the helicopter during the flight. He did not notice any mechanical anomalies during the autorotation demonstration. He stated that the engine was running normally during the autorotation and the landing flare. The pilot stated that wind shear may have been a factor. He had observed the winds to be from the northwest at 8 knots, and gusts to 12 knots with light turbulence.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudgement of the landing flare during an autorotation demonstration. Factors were shifting winds and an excessive descent rate.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/21/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1155 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tracy |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95377 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 374045N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1211759W |
| Event Location Airport | New Jerusalem |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1Q4 |
| 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 | 62 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1156 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 175 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSCK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 30 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1099 |
| 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) | 11098 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1245 |
| 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 | Oakland FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5015V |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA255 |
| 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 | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | 269C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 611058 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 22 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 53.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 6827 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Advanced Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6120 Lindberg St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Stockton |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95206 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SCK |
| Departure City | Stockton |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1045 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 1Q4 |
| Destination City | Tracy |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2001 2:53PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 30 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |