Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Morgantown Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Morgantown, West Virginia 26505
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 1.5 hours after beginning an introductory instructional flight in the use of night vision goggles (NVGs), the pilot and the flight instructor returned to the airport to practice autorotations from a hover. After establishing the helicopter in a 3-foot hover, the flight instructor moved the fuel flow control lever toward the idle cutoff position. The pilot responded by increasing collective pitch, and the helicopter began to ascend, and as a result, the rotor rpm decayed. The flight instructor attempted to apply corrective action, but the pilot physically resisted his efforts. The helicopter descended rapidly to the ground, resulting in substantial damage to the tailboom. The pilot noted that during the maneuver, he had misjudged the helicopter’s height above the ground, due to the decreased peripheral vision afforded by the NVGs. This was the pilot’s first flight operating with NVGs.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the helicopter during the practice hovering autorotation. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s lack of experience in night vision goggle helicopter operations.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/24/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 30 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Morgantown |
| Event State | WEST VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 26505 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 393834N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0795458W |
| Event Location Airport | Morgantown Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MGW |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1248 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 25857 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 17 2009 11:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N106HN |
| NTSB Number | ERA09CA367 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EUROCOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | AS 350 B2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2818 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4960 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 23 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 8113 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GE BUSINESS FINANCIAL SERVICES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 44 OLD RIDGEBURY RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | DANBURY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06810-5107 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Air Methods Corporation Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | South Peoria |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 80112 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MGW |
| Departure City | Morgantown |
| Departure State | WV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2340 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | MGW |
| Destination City | Morgantown |
| Destination State | WV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 17 2009 11:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | muzd |
| 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 | -- |