Bell 206B N59576

Summary

On 30 September 1996 at about 20:00 local time, a Bell 206B registered N59576 was involved in an accident near Fillmore, 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

30 September 1996 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Fillmore, California, United States

Coordinates

34.3992, -118.8294

Aircraft

Bell 206B

Registration

N59576

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Angeles → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX96LA346

Nobody was injured.

the flight instructor's inadequate supervision and delay in taking remedial action to stop the aircraft's lateral movement, which resulted in a dynamic rollover after touchdown.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the flight instructor (CFI), he and the student pilot were on an instructional flight, and the student was performing hovering autorotations to a clear, moist, sandy area of a river bed. The CFI reported that the student began an autorotation from a 3-foot hover when, about 1 foot above the ground, the helicopter began to drift to the left. The CFI took the controls and applied right cyclic as the rotor rpm continued to decay. His control input did not stop the helicopter's accelerating leftward movement. As the left skid touched down on sandy terrain, the helicopter experienced a dynamic rollover and rolled onto its left side. The wind at the accident site was estimated to be westerly at about 10 knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.