Burns MINI 500 UNREG

Summary

On 21 August 2015 at about 16:00 local time, a Burns MINI 500 registered UNREG was involved in an accident near Butler, Missouri, United States. One person was 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

21 August 2015 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Butler, Missouri, United States

Nearest airport

Butler Memorial (BUM)

Coordinates

38.2897, -94.3403

Aircraft

Burns MINI 500

Registration

UNREG

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Butler → Butler

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN15LA396

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to attain a proper landing flare following an autorotation for reasons that could not be determined based on available information.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot had just departed the airport in the unregistered, amateur-built helicopter. While in the traffic pattern, the helicopter shuddered and made a noise the pilot described as sounding like a tire blowing out on a car. He performed an autorotation to a soybean field and leveled the helicopter at 5 ft above the ground (2 ft above the crop), although he stated that he believed that the helicopter's tail rotor may have been in the crop, which caused instability. When the rotor speed bled off, the helicopter settled onto its right skid and rolled over. Postaccident examination did not reveal any preimpact anomalies, but a complete examination was not performed. Although the pilot believed that the one-way clutch, part of the power transmission system of the helicopter, had failed, which would have resulted in a loss of power to the rotor system, he had not disassembled the transmission to verify this. Additionally, the pilot's improper flare during the autorotation resulted in a premature loss of rotor speed, and the subsequent rollover.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.