Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Spanish Fork - Springville Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Spanish Fork, Utah 84660
Friday, August 17, 2012 16:42 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and student pilot were on a local training flight to practice autorotations. The flight instructor reported that the student entered a 180-degree autorotation at an altitude of about 5,200 feet mean sea level at 65 knots. The student started the maneuver by initiating a descending “hard” right turn. Shortly after, the low rotor light illuminated, and the low rotor horn sounded. In response, the flight instructor assisted the student through the maneuver, and they added left cyclic and decreased the airspeed and sink rate. Although the rpm horn stopped, the helicopter’s sink rate was excessive, so the flight instructor took control of the helicopter. He reported that the rotor seemed as if it was not responding to inputs and that the helicopter’s sink rate was “pretty fast.” The helicopter lost considerable altitude in the turn, and the flight instructor rolled on the throttle and flared in the short amount of distance between the helicopter and the ground. The helicopter subsequently touched down hard and rolled over. The flight instructor reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor’s delayed remedial action and inadequate supervision during a practice autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing and rollover.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/17/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1642 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Spanish Fork |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84660 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 400829N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1113940W |
| Event Location Airport | Spanish Fork - Springville |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | U77 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 120 |
| Airport Elevation | 4529 |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 33058 |
| 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 | Jul 23 2014 8:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | hogd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N208WM |
| NTSB Number | WPR12LA362 |
| 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 | 4397 |
| 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 | Mar 26 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 73 |
| Airframe Hours | 1708 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ZBURA HELICOPTERS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ELK RIDGE |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84651-4520 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Utah Helicopter |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Spanish Fork |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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 | U77 |
| Departure City | Spanish Fork |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | U77 |
| Destination City | Spanish Fork |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 20 2014 10:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12 |
| Runway Length | 5700 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |