Eurocopter AS350 N632SD

Summary

On 15 September 2021 at about 14:50 local time, a Eurocopter AS350 registered N632SD, operated by County of Oakland, was involved in an accident near Romeo, Michigan, 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 September 2021 at 14:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Romeo, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

Romeo State Airport (D98)

Coordinates

42.7963, -82.9743

Aircraft

Eurocopter AS350

Registration

N632SD

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2002

Engines

1

Operator

County of Oakland

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lapeer → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN21LA431

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s failure to reposition the fuel control to the flight detent during a practice autorotation, which resulted in insufficient engine power to arrest the helicopter’s decent and a hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that he intended to demonstrate to the student pilot a 180° autorotation with a power recovery near the ground. He planned to transition the helicopter into to a hover about 5 to 10 ft above ground level at the end of the maneuver. The instructor initially set the engine fuel control to the idle detent to simulate an engine failure and then entered an autorotation. As the autorotation progressed, the flight instructor repositioned the engine fuel control, but he failed to ensure that it had been placed into the flight detent. Without sufficient engine power at the end of the maneuver, the helicopter continued to descend with a low rotor speed, landed hard, and slid to a stop on the runway. Then the helicopter violently rocked side to side before the main rotor stopped rotating. During the accident sequence, the helicopter sustained substantial damage to a main rotor Starflex arm and the tail rotor driveshaft. Both the flight instructor and his student reported there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.