Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Colville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Colville, Washington 99114
Sunday, August 5, 2012 15:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The private pilot with an airplane single-engine land rating was learning to fly his son's experimental amateur-built helicopter and had accumulated about 20 hours in type. His plan for the day was to conduct solo hover practice. After about 20 minutes of hover practice on a grass runway at the non-towered airport, he began hover-taxiing the helicopter back to its hangar. As he approached the hangar area, he realized that the helicopter had excessive speed for an upcoming turn, and the pilot tried to slow the helicopter. However, instead of just decelerating, the helicopter settled to the ground. At the time the helicopter contacted the ground, it had some lateral translation. One of the skids caught on the ground, and the helicopter rolled over onto its left side. The pilot shut down the helicopter and extracted himself. The main rotor blades, tailboom, and one skid were substantially damaged, and the pilot was uninjured. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation and that his inexperience in the helicopter resulted in his inability to control it during the taxi.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's lack of experience in the helicopter, which resulted in his failure to maintain ground clearance during the taxi hover, followed by inadvertent ground contact and rollover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/5/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Colville |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99114 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 483238N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1175302W |
| Event Location Airport | Colville Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 63S |
| 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 | 1882 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| 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 | 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) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30521 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Northwest Mountain ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 11 2012 2:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N156RW |
| NTSB Number | WPR12CA344 |
| 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 | ROTORWAY |
| Aircraft Model | EXEC |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 90 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1400 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 12 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 85 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Christoffer Lyons |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Colville |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99114 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Gary Lyons |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Colville |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99114 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 63S |
| Departure City | Colville |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 63S |
| Destination City | Colville |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 11 2012 2:27PM |
| 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 | -- |