Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Peter O Knight Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tampa, Florida 33606
Wednesday, January 2, 2013 18:10 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and her student were practicing autorotations. The student entered a practice autorotation at 500 feet above ground level (agl) and at 70 knots. About 40 feet agl, the student bled off airspeed by flaring the helicopter. The student advanced the throttle, but the rpm started to decay. The instructor had her hands on the controls and added throttle to arrest the rpm decay. When the rpm continued to decay, she took the controls and performed a hovering autorotation. The helicopter impacted a grassy area next to the runway, bounced, and rolled over, coming to an immediate stop. The fuselage and main rotor sustained substantial damage. The flight instructor reported that there was excessive play in the left throttle and that she had reported the condition to the operator’s mechanic twice previously. Examination of the throttle system found it to be in an airworthy condition.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot’s delayed throttle application during the practice autorotation and the flight instructor’s lack of immediate remedial action, which resulted in a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/2/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1810 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Tampa |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33606 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 275456N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0822658W |
| Event Location Airport | Peter O Knight Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TPF |
| 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 | 7 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1815 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TPF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 7 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| 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) | 31399 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Tampa FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 2 2013 12:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coln |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N345VH |
| NTSB Number | ERA13LA104 |
| 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 | ROBINSON HELICOPTER |
| Aircraft Model | R22 BETA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2314 |
| 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 | Nov 12 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3417 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SPITZER MATTHEW L |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | HAYWARD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94542-1401 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Helicopter Academy |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Tampa |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PIE |
| Departure City | Clearwater |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1715 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | TPF |
| Destination City | Tampa |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 2 2013 12:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coln |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 3580 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |