Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Clayton County - Tara Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Jonesboro, Georgia 30236
Saturday, January 24, 2004 16:50 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The certified flight instructor (CFI) and the dual-student had completed five practice touchdown autorotations without any incident. However, during the accident autorotation, the CFI stated that the dual-student had placed the helicopter in an autorotative descent and his cross-check showed normal rotor RPM indications. At 50 feet above the ground, the in CFI told the student to "progressive decel" and at six feet above ground to "cushion". The dual student pulled additional rear cyclic and the tail stinger struck the ground. As the helicopter rebounded into a nose low attitude the CFI pulled collective and aft cyclic to level the helicopter for touchdown. However, a loud noise was heard after the tail stinger hit the ground and the helicopter rebounded. According to the CFI, during the touchdown phase of the autorotation, the main rotor blades made contact with and severed the tail boom. The helicopter landed and the CFI shut down the engine. The CFI did not report any mechanical malfunctions with the helicopter prior to the accident. The FAA Rotorcraft Flying Handbook includes the procedures for a straight-in autorotation. Part of the technique section states that "care must be taken in the execution of the flare so that the cyclic control is not... moved so slowly as to not arrest the descent, which may allow the helicopter to settle so rapidly that the tail rotor strikes the ground." It also states that "extreme caution should be used to avoid an excessive nose high and tail low attitude below 10 feet," to "increase collective pitch, as necessary, to check the descent and cushion the landing,"
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The instructor's inadequate supervision, and the dual-student's improper flare which resulted in a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/24/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1650 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Jonesboro |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 30236 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 332335N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0842000W |
| Event Location Airport | Clayton County - Tara Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4A7 |
| 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 | 874 |
| 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) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ATL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1026 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4800 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1338 |
| 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) | 17873 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 24 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2005 10:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Atlanta FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N125MG |
| NTSB Number | ATL04LA070 |
| 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 | Eurocopter France |
| Aircraft Model | EC120B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1264 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| 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 | KSB Domestic Holding, Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 116 W. Market Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Georgetown |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19947 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | William K. Riley |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 239 Ware Rd |
| Operator City | Newnan |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 30263 |
| 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 | FFC |
| Departure City | Atlanta |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 4A7 |
| Destination City | Jonesboro |
| Destination State | GA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 12 2005 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 06 |
| Runway Length | 4503 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |