Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Coral Springs, Florida 33067
Tuesady, March 26, 2002 17:15 TW

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

According to the instructor, he wanted to finish off the rotorcraft instructional flight with a practice forced landing to a power recovery at 500 feet agl. He did not disarm the engine governor, and the student rolled the throttle to the detent and held it there when the instructor announced, "engine failure". When the instructor tried to ease on throttle, he felt resistance and interpreted the condition as a real engine failure and announced, "my controls". The combination of choosing a landing spot with too high grass and uneven, soft terrain, together with the student continuing to handle the collective control resulted in a too high flare and hard touchdown and rollover.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The instructor's too high flare during an autorotational landing, resulting in a hard touchdown and rollover. Factors contributing to the accident were the instructor's nonperformance of a preflight brief concerning procedures and techniques for a simulated engine failure, the student's not removing total rotorcraft control when the instructor announced, "my controls", and the selection of unsuitable terrain for landing by the instructor.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 3/26/2002
Event Day of the Week Tuesday
Time of Event 1715
Event Time Zone --
Event City Coral Springs
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 33067
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 3
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 262244N
Event Location Longitude 0800626W
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 Not pertinent
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1653 Eastern Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 135
Weather Observation Facility ID PMP
Elevation of weather observation facility 21
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 8
Time Zone of the weather observation EST
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) 26
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 21
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 120
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 9
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.01
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) 12204
NTSB Notification Source FAA Comm Ctr-SE
NTSB Notification Date Mar 26 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 2130
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Aug 28 2002 10:10AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Ft. Lauderdale

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N7187J
NTSB Number MIA02LA074
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 R-22
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 3042
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 20 2002 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 27
Airframe Hours 2199
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Pompano Helicopters, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 1101 N.E. 10th St. Hgr.#82
Aircraft Owner City Pompano Beach
Aircraft Owner State FL
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 33060
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 PMP
Departure City Pompano Beach
Departure State FL
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1630
Departure Time Zone EST
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 Landing - flare/touchdown
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Aug 2 2002 2:39PM
User who most recently changed record KENJ
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --