Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Waimea-Kohala Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kamuela, Hawaii 96743
Thursday, September 22, 2005 14:30 HST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While executing a practice 180-degree full touchdown autorotation, the helicopter landed hard, spreading the landing gear skids, and the main rotor blades flexed and chopped off the tailboom. The helicopter bounced into the air, landed again, and spun several times before coming to a stop. The student initiated the maneuver at 500 feet above ground level. He started the turn abeam the runway, and when they were 90 degrees into the turn, he noted his airspeed at 65 knots and rotor rpm at 105 percent. He increased the collective to keep the main rotor from over speeding as he continued the turn. The pilot leveled off and aligned the helicopter with the runway for landing. His flight instructor told him to lower the collective, which he did, as well as inputting aft cyclic to start the flare. The instructor took over the flight controls when it became evident that the student was unable to arrest the descent. The instructor made sure the helicopter was leveled and attempted to cushion the landing prior to ground contact. The instructor indicated that the combination of a higher descent rate, higher airspeed, and density altitude led to the accident. Both pilots reported that there were no mechanical anomalies. The airport was at an altitude of 2,671 feet mean sea level, and the calculated density altitude was 4,200 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student's misjudged landing flare, and the instructor's inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action. A factor in the accident was the high density altitude.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/22/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Hawaii Standard Time |
| Event City | Kamuela |
| Event State | HAWAII |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96743 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 200004N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1554005W |
| Event Location Airport | WAIMEA-KOHALA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MUE |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MUE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2671 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | HDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| 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) | 19029 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 22 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2006 7:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-HNL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N82001 |
| NTSB Number | LAX05CA314 |
| 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 | 1258 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1370 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Sep 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 60.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 3321.7 |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Hawaii Pacific Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 73-310 U'u Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Kailua-Kona |
| Aircraft Owner State | HI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96740 |
| 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 | HKO |
| Departure City | Kailua-Kona |
| Departure State | HI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | HST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | HMU |
| Destination City | Kamuela |
| Destination State | HI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 1 2005 1:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 4 |
| Runway Length | 5197 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |