Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Boire Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Nashua, New Hampshire 03063
Friday, May 25, 2007 13:41 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the flight instructor, the student pilot and flight instructor were repositioning a Robinson R22 Beta to practice "quick stops." The student pilot was air taxiing the helicopter downwind at 30 feet agl, when she began to slow the helicopter. The flight instructor then took over the flight controls and attempted to do "a left pedal turn" so he could point the helicopter into the wind for landing; however the helicopter did not respond and started to descend. The flight instructor then lowered the collective "slightly" and increased engine power "slightly" to stop the descent without result. He again tried to raise the collective "slightly," but the helicopter continued to descend. As the helicopter was "getting pretty low," the flight instructor turned the helicopter to point the skids in the direction of travel. The front of the skids then made contact with the ground, dug in, and the helicopter nosed over. No preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the helicopter were reported by the flight instructor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's inadvertent entry into a vortex ring state (settling with power). Factors to the accident was the tailwind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/25/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1341 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Nashua |
| Event State | NEW HAMPSHIRE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 03063 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 424654N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0713053W |
| Event Location Airport | Boire Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ASH |
| 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 | 199 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1351 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ASH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 199 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| 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) | 30.07 |
| 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) | 21955 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NEROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 29 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Portland, ME |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N302CH |
| NTSB Number | NYC07CA128 |
| 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 | 3996 |
| 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 | Apr 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 72.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 1060.9 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Stadium Graphics |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Peterborough |
| Aircraft Owner State | NH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 03458 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | C-R Helicopters |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Nashua |
| Operator State | NH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 03063 |
| 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 | ASH |
| Departure City | Nashua |
| Departure State | NH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1303 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | ASH |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi - aerial |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 18 2007 9:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |