Robinson R44 N896J

Summary

On 6 September 2024 at about 15:30 local time, a Robinson R44 registered N896J, operated by University of North Dakota, was involved in an accident near Grand Forks, North Dakota, 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

6 September 2024 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States

Nearest airport

Grand Forks International Airp (GFK)

Coordinates

47.9473, -97.1738

Aircraft

Robinson R44

Registration

N896J

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2022

Engines

1

Operator

University of North Dakota

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Grand Forks → Grand Forks

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN24LA343

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot’s failure to maintain helicopter control which resulted in impact with the ground. Contributing to the outcome was the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that she was teaching her student to hover as part of a flight lesson. She transferred the flight controls to her student but continued to monitor the cyclic, collective, and tail rotor controls. The helicopter drifted aft and to the right while pitching nose up, as the student increased aft cyclic. The flight instructor attempted to correct by increasing forward cyclic but the tail struck the ground. The flight instructor stated that the helicopter began to violently vibrate, and she heard a grinding noise. As she lowered the collective, the helicopter impacted the ground, and the right skid broke off. The helicopter rolled over and came to rest on its right side, sustaining substantial damage to the main rotor system, tail boom, and tail rotor system. The flight instructor reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.