Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Portland-Troutdale Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Troutdale, Oregon 97060
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After practicing a series of autorotations, the flight instructor and his student attempted to complete a 180-degree autorotation. The student began a stabilized autorotation from the downwind leg of the traffic pattern. According to the flight instructor, during the turn the student allowed the nose of the helicopter to drop; he was instructed to correct this attitude by applying aft cyclic. When the student completed the turn at an altitude of 200 to 250 ft agl and at a speed of 80 to 85 knots, the flight instructor believed that the outcome of the maneuver was in doubt. The flight instructor then took control of the helicopter and began to initiate a recovery by raising the nose and attempting to increase the throttle and collective to arrest the descent rate. According to the flight instructor, the RPM decayed and the low rotor rpm horn came on at 150 to 100 ft agl. The helicopter landed hard and subsequently slid off the north side of the taxiway. The forward section of the left skid contacted the soft dirt, which resulted in the helicopter turning to the left and nosing over. Examination of the aircraft by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed substantial damage to the helicopter consisted of the separation of the tail boom assembly, damage to the firewall, the left forward frame, and left skid support structure. The flight instructor reported no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter or flight control systems.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's failure to maintain adequate main rotor RPM.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/29/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1100 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Troutdale |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97060 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 423558N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222405W |
| Event Location Airport | Portland-Troutdale |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KTTD |
| 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 | 39 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1053 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KTTD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 39 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.76 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25861 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Regional Operations 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 2:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7176W |
| NTSB Number | WPR09CA375 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2735 |
| 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 | Jul 2 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 99 |
| Airframe Hours | 6135 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HILLSBORO AVIATION INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3565 NE CORNELL RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | HILLSBORO |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97124-6374 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | HILLSBORO AVIATION INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 3565 NE CORNELL RD |
| Operator City | HILLSBORO |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97124-6374 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KTTD |
| Departure City | Troutdale |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1045 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KTTD |
| Destination City | Troutdale |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 17 2009 2:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 5399 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |