Kaman Aerospace Corp Helipad Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Bloomfield, Connecticut 06002
Wednesday, November 14, 2001 15:43 EST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

As the helicopter descended towards the ground during hovering autorotation maneuvers, the pilot applied aft cyclic, and the helicopter began to drift rearward. The pilot increased the collective to stop the decent, and began to concentrate on the aft drift, when the helicopter touched down on the right main and nose landing gear. The pilot added left cyclic to level the helicopter, but due to low rotor rpm, the control input had little effect. The helicopter began to roll to the right, and the main rotor blades impacted the ground. The helicopter came to rest on its right side. According to the pilot's flight instructor, the accident flight was the pilot's fifth flight of the day, with the first four dual instructional flights being conducted in a Kaman H-43. The last flight was to be conducted solo in the K-1200. The pilot had previously flown the K-1200 four times.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control while hovering. A factor related to the accident was the pilots lack of experience in type of aircraft.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 11/14/2001
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 1543
Event Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Event City Bloomfield
Event State CONNECTICUT
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 06002
Event Date Year 2001
Event Date Month 11
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 415143N
Event Location Longitude 0724159W
Event Location Airport Kaman Aerospace Corp Helipad
Event Location Nearest Airport ID CT05
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 1555 Eastern Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 6
Weather Observation Facility ID BDL
Elevation of weather observation facility 173
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 355
Time Zone of the weather observation EST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 10000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 7000
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) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 14
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 1
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 210
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) 30.15
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Minor
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor 1
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 13216
NTSB Notification Source NEROC
NTSB Notification Date Nov 14 2001 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1615
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 18 2003 4:34PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office FSDO-03 Windsor Locks, CT

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N361KA
NTSB Number NYC02TA029
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 Kaman
Aircraft Model K-1200
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number A94-0032
Certified Max Gross Weight 12000
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 --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours --
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name U.S. Department of State
Aircraft Owner Street Address PO Box 9115
Aircraft Owner City Arlington
Aircraft Owner State VA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 22219
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 CT05
Departure City Bloomfield
Departure State CT
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1530
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 Hover
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Sep 27 2002 1:45PM
User who most recently changed record PEAR
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --