Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Front Range Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watkins, Colorado 80137
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 9:05 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Witnesses said the helicopter had been flying in a left-hand traffic pattern, practicing autorotations to a taxiway. The helicopter had flown the pattern approximately five times and each time, the helicopter descended in a nose-down attitude, leveled off and hovered, "sometimes rising slightly." The witness who saw the accident said the "helicopter descended in a nose-down attitude, but it did not appear to level off. It appeared to strike the ground with its right skid." He saw a cloud of dust and saw the helicopter start spinning around rapidly. It struck the ground, rolled over on its right side, and came to rest between two taxiways. The instructor was fatally injured and the pilot receiving instruction was seriously injured. There was no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction of the airframe or engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of both pilots to initiate a timely recovery from a practice autorotation. A contributing factor was the instructor's inadequate supervision of the pilot receiving instruction.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/28/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 905 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Watkins |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80137 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394701N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1043206W |
| Event Location Airport | Front Range Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FTG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 5512 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DEN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5431 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | 30.43 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6692 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15098 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 28 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 930 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, Colorado |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9643F |
| NTSB Number | DEN03FA090 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Hughes |
| Aircraft Model | 269C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1200076 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1550 |
| 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 | Apr 23 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 68 |
| Airframe Hours | 1041 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Highlander Helicopter Leasing LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1420 Newport Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Denver |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80220 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FTG |
| Departure City | Watkins |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 850 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | FTG |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 13 2004 11:53AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | C |
| Runway Length | 2000 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |