Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Renton, Washington 98055
Friday, January 11, 2002 11:31 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The accident occurred during a hover demonstration to a prospective student on an introductory helicopter flight. The dual student reported that at the time of the accident, they were hovering at 4 to 5 feet. The dual student reported that the instructor had a hold of the cyclic, and that "I had a loose grip on it and we tipped back." The student stated that "We went straight up in the air for ten to fifteen feet and immediately banked left, almost up side down." The instructor reported that after demonstrating hovering flight to the student, she had the student take hold of the cyclic control with her. She stated that while maintaining control of the collective and pedals, she verified cyclic control transfer with the student and let her hand loose around the cyclic grip. The instructor reported that the helicopter then began to drift slightly sideways, forward and backward. She stated that she then took the cyclic control back and stabilized the hover. She stated that she then briefly described hovering flight to the student again, then had him take hold of the cyclic with her again as she kept control of the collective and pedals. She stated that after verifying cyclic control transfer with the student, she again let her hand loose around the cyclic grip. She reported that the helicopter then started to move forward. She stated that the student "reacted by applying gradual aft cyclic at first, then quickly applied more aft cyclic." She stated that, "Before full correction could be applied, the aircraft hit the ground. The helicopter then lifted back up a little, and started spinning to the right before falling on its side." The operator's accident report to the NTSB indicated that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's failure to ensure that adequate altitude/clearance above the ground was maintained during hovering flight, resulting in an inadvertent ground contact and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. A factor was the flight instructor's failure to ensure adequate control of the aircraft was maintained in the hover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/11/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1131 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Renton |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98055 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 472657N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1221334W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 32 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 3 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.26 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12700 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 11 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1202 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 25 2003 9:38AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle (Renton), WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7185A |
| NTSB Number | SEA02LA026 |
| 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 | R22 Beta |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2997 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 14 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 67.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 1862 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Classic Helicopter Corp. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6505 Perimeter Rd, Boeing Field |
| Aircraft Owner City | Seattle |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98108 |
| 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 | GJOA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BFI |
| Departure City | Seattle |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1105 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 - in ground effect |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 23 2002 7:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |