Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Los Alamitos Army Airfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Alamitos, California 90720
Friday, October 16, 2009 10:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The certified flight instructor (CFI) and the pilot he was instructing were practicing emergency procedures, in particular, power recovery autorotations. At 700 feet above ground level (agl), the CFI rolled the throttle off (idle) and entered the autorotation. At 50 feet agl he rolled the throttle on late, realized the ground was rapidly approaching, and decided to perform a running landing. The pilot reported that he inadvertently applied partial throttle, which did not allow the engine to regain full power. With the throttle positioned at 25 percent, the rotor rpm decayed, and when the helicopter contacted the ground, a rotor blade dipped down and struck the tail boom. The pilot stated that the helicopter and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's delayed remedial action during the instructional autorotative landing, which resulted in a failure to maintain an adequate rotor rpm to avoid a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/16/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1045 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Los Alamitos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90720 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334724N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180305W |
| Event Location Airport | Los Alamitos Army Airfield |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSLI |
| 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 | 1055 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SKLI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 32 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| 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) | 26204 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Federal Aviation Administratio |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2009 5:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N521HB |
| NTSB Number | WPR10TA025 |
| 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 | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | 500N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | LN084 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3350 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 10 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 8780 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2000 MAIN ST |
| Aircraft Owner City | HUNTINGTON BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92648-2702 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2000 MAIN ST |
| Operator City | HUNTINGTON BEACH |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92648-2702 |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CL65 |
| Departure City | Huntington Beac |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 945 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KSLI |
| Destination City | Los Alamitos |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2009 5:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22L |
| Runway Length | 8000 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |