Bell 206-L4 N36R

Summary

On 23 October 1999 at about 18:15 local time, a Bell 206-L4 registered N36R was involved in an accident near Santa Clarita, 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

23 October 1999 at 18:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Clarita, California, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Bell 206-L4

Registration

N36R

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Van Nuys → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX00LA024

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's delay in adding power during a power-on recovery from an autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing and rollover. The flight instructor's inadequate supervision of the flight was also causal.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was practicing autorotations to a power-on recovery. When he attempted to recover the power, the engine did not respond as quickly as anticipated and the helicopter landed hard, hitting on the rear heels of both skids. The flight instructor said that when he saw the pilot was late adding power, he attempted to correct the situation but was unsuccessful. The surface of the dry riverbed was mostly soft sand. The left skid heel contacted a log that was embedded in the sand and the helicopter pitched forward onto the skid toes and rolled over onto its left side. Both the flight instructor and pilot reported that there were no problems with the engine during prior autorotations, and, it was running after the helicopter came to rest. The engine was run in a test cell and met all of the manufacturer's perimeters. No discrepancies were found with the control or fuel systems.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.