Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Encinitas, California 92024
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 8:05 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot, who also operated the flight school that owned the helicopter, reported that he was giving a prospective flight instructor a pre-employment check ride. The flight instructor entered a practice autorotation from approximately 700 to 800 feet mean sea level to the beach at the ocean shoreline with the plan to perform a power recovery. When the flight instructor attempted to increase power, the power recovered to only approximately 70 percent. The pilot took the flight controls and performed an emergency autorotation to the sandy beach. The helicopter's forward motion was between 3 to 5 knots when it touched down. The pilot said the helicopter stopped suddenly due to the wet sand, causing the aircraft to rock forward and back. The backward motion permitted a main rotor blade to slice through and separate the tail boom. A post accident engine run was performed with no operational difficulties noted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A partial loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. Contributing to the accident was the soft terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/18/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 805 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Encinitas |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92024 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 330127N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1171656W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| 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 | 753 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CRG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 331 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.23 |
| 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) | 25239 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 29 2009 2:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N588LE |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA118 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Robinson Helicopter |
| Aircraft Model | R22 Beta II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3588 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 2 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 4530 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bank of Utah |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Salt Lake City |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84111 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | DDG Management, LLC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Carlsbad |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92011 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CRQ |
| Departure City | Carlsbad |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 755 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CRQ |
| Destination City | Carlsbad |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 13 2009 3:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |