Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
General Dewitt Spain Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Memphis, Tennessee 38127
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 15:15 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On January 29, 2014, about 1515 central standard time, an Enstrom F-28A helicopter, N24RB was substantially damaged during landing at General Dewitt Spain Airport (M01), Memphis, Tennessee. The flight instructor and private pilot were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage to a main rotor blade and the tail rotor driveshaft. The helicopter was registered to and operated by a flight school under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local flight that departed M01 about 1340.
According to the flight instructor's written statement, they had practiced several running landings with simulated stuck anti-torque pedal approaches; each approach varied between the right pedal, left pedal, and neutral position. While the student completed some of the landings, the flight instructor guarded the cyclic and collective flight controls and, at times, took control of the aircraft and demonstrated the maneuver to completion. The flight instructor reported that during a low power steep approach the profile and alignment with the landing zone on final approach appeared "correct" and the speed before touchdown was approximately 10 mph. During landing, the landing skid made contact with the ground and collapsed. The helicopter came to rest in forward pitch attitude.
Postaccident examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector (FAA) revealed substantial damage to a main rotor blade and the tail rotor drive shaft. Further examination of the landing skid revealed a broken skid tube clamp.
The landing skid tube clamp was retained by the NTSB for further examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/29/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Memphis |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38127 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 351202N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0900314W |
| Event Location Airport | GENERAL DEWITT SPAIN |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | M01 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 154 |
| Airport Elevation | 225 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2054 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 135 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MEM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 341 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 1 |
| 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) | 30.37 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KMEM 292054Z 00000KT 10SM FEW250 01/M17 A303 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 19 2014 2:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N24RB |
| NTSB Number | ERA14LA108 |
| 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 | ENSTROM |
| Aircraft Model | F 28A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 057 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 22 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 10760 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HELICOPTERS INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | MEMPHIS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 381035835 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | HELICOPTERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | MEMPHIS |
| Operator State | TN |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 381035835 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | M01 |
| Departure City | MEMPHIS |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1340 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | M01 |
| Destination City | Memphis |
| Destination State | TN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 18 2014 12:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | murp1 |
| 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 | -- |