Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Corvallis Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Corvallis, Oregon 97333
Monday, April 4, 2005 17:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student was at the controls as the instructional flight approached the airport from the east on a practice VOR-A approach. Because the student misunderstood the instructor’s directions to touch down on the numbers of Runway 17, he proceeded to a grassy area between the approach ends of Runway 35 and Runway 27. During the last part of his approach to the grassy area, the student had the helicopter headed into the wind, but when he was about 30 to 40 feet above the ground, he initiated a right turn in order to air-taxi to the helicopter landing pad. During that turn, the helicopter was exposed to a direct tailwind of between five to seven knots, and during that sequence of events, the student failed to maintain directional control, and the aircraft began spinning to the right. Although the instructor pilot took control of the aircraft, her remedial action was not taken soon enough to recover control before the helicopter's left skid impacted the terrain. After the skid hit the terrain, the aircraft rolled over onto its left side, where it came to rest. There were no issues with the helicopter's flight control system, nor any problem with the engine's production of power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control while attempting to turn in the direction necessary to air-taxi to the landing pad, and the flight instructor's failure to take remedial action soon enough to correct the problems created when the student lost directional control. Factors include a tailwind encountered by the aircraft during the aforementioned turn.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/4/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1700 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Corvallis |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97333 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 442950N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1231723W |
| Event Location Airport | Corvallis Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KCVO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 244 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1715 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KCVO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 244 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4900 |
| 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) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| 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) | 18382 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 4 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 17 2006 2:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Portland FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N303PR |
| NTSB Number | SEA05LA070 |
| 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 Beta |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1039 |
| 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 | Mar 10 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 83 |
| Airframe Hours | 9944 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Pacific Rim Aviation, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6427 SW Airport Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Corvallis |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97333 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Avia Aviation Services, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5671 SW Plumley St. |
| Operator City | Corvallis |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97333 |
| 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 | KCVO |
| Departure City | Corvallis |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1545 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KCVO |
| Destination City | Corvallis |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - turn to landing area (emergency) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 21 2005 4:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |