Bell 206B3 N78BR

Summary

On 15 January 2011 at about 20:00 local time, a Bell 206B3 registered N78BR, operated by Skymission LLC, was involved in an accident near Three Forks, Montana, 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

15 January 2011 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Three Forks, Montana, United States

Nearest airport

Three Forks (9S5)

Coordinates

45.8750, -111.5733

Aircraft

Bell 206B3

Registration

N78BR

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Skymission LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bozeman → Bozeman

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR11CA101

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s inadequate use of throttle during the practice autorotation that resulted in a hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot practiced several maneuvers and then entered a straight-in practice autorotation. He pointed the helicopter into the wind at 800 feet above ground level near midfield and above the runway. He reduced the throttle to flight idle and lowered the collective while gently flaring the nose of the helicopter to set up the appropriate main rotor rpm and airspeed. He reported that he monitored those parameters carefully during the descent and noted that they remained well within the normal range. At the bottom of the descent, the pilot flared a little high to allow a margin of safety for tail boom clearance as he was planning a power recovery from the autorotation. The pilot stated that he did not add power at that point and that there was inadequate rotor inertia to dampen the landing, even though he applied full collective deflection. The helicopter hit hard and sustained substantial damage. The aft portion of the tail boom and tail rotor separated due to a main rotor blade contact and the skids were damaged.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.