Bell 206 N820H

Summary

On 30 May 2002 at about 13:30 local time, a Bell 206 registered N820H was involved in an accident near Columbus, Ohio, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 May 2002 at 13:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Columbus, Ohio, United States

Nearest airport

Ohio State University (OSU)

Coordinates

40.0797, -83.0731

Aircraft

Bell 206

Registration

N820H

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Columbus → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC02LA105

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor's delay in applying remedial action. A factor in the accident was the pilot allowing the rotor rpm to become too low during the deceleration and touchdown phase of the autorotation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight, the flight instructor rolled the throttle to idle. The pilot lowered the collective and entered an autorotation. At first, the pilot did not think he was going to make his intended touchdown point, and wanted to increase airspeed, but the instructor told him to slow the helicopter to 50 knots. The pilot applied aft cyclic, and airspeed decreased to about 40 knots. The pilot was now sure he would not make his intended touchdown point by maintaining 50 knots, so he lowered the nose. As airspeed increased, the pilot realized he was going to overshoot, so he initiated a left, and then a right turn to lose altitude. The pilot initiated a flare, applied initial collective, and then used additional collective to cushion the landing. Rotor RPM decayed during the landing sequence, and the helicopter touched down hard on the aft part of the skids, and then rocked forward, doing substantial damage to the tailboom, and main transmission mounts.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.