Robinson R22 BETA N820SH

Summary

On 26 March 2005 at about 16:30 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N820SH was involved in an accident near Los Banos, California, 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

26 March 2005 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Los Banos, California, United States

Coordinates

37.0500, -120.8333

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N820SH

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Banos → Gustine

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX05LA278

Nobody was injured.

the instructor pilot's failure to apply carburetor heat during a simulated engine failure, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The helicopter made a hard landing following a loss of engine power during a practice autorotation. The instructor pilot reported that while in cruise he simulated a loss of engine power. The student, who was studying to become a flight instructor, initiated an autorotation to a field. When the instructor attempted to apply engine power following the practice autorotation, the engine "immediately quit." The instructor applied full collective to cushion the landing, but the helicopter landed hard in the field, structurally damaging the tail boom and the fuselage. Following the accident, the operator returned the helicopter to their facility and test ran the engine. No anomalies were noted, and they believed the conditions were suitable for the development of carburetor ice during the autorotation. Review of archived weather data for the day of the accident revealed the closest weather observation facility reported the temperature and dew point as 6 and 5 degrees Celsius, respectively. Plotting of those temperatures on a carburetor icing probability chart revealed that conditions likely existed for serious icing at any power setting.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.