Robinson R22 BETA N622EH

Summary

On 27 April 2000 at about 00:13 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N622EH, operated by Marcus Phares, was involved in an accident near San Diego, California, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 April 2000 at 00:13

Classification

Accident

Location

San Diego, California, United States

Coordinates

33.2500, -116.9808

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N622EH

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Marcus Phares

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Valley Center → Ramona

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX00LA172

1 person died.

The failure of the flight instructor to maintain control of the helicopter, resulting in skid contact with an obstacle and dynamic roll over.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the student pilot, he was a rated commercial pilot working toward his 20 hours of indoctrination into the aircraft. 'We were going to practice emergency procedures in the aircraft and get a little bit more familiar with flying it.' The student was flying the helicopter and decided to fly over an Indian Reservation to look at their motocross track for future photography work in the helicopter. The student told the instructor to take the controls and fly a racetrack pattern over the track and make an aerial application type turn at the end of the track to reverse course. The student would then try and duplicate the maneuver. As they changed controls from one another they would say, 'You got it,' or ' Okay, I got it' to confirm the transition. After the maneuvers were completed over the track, a critiquing took place while the student was flying in a hover. After the critiquing the student reported that he told the instructor to fly us out of here and we will go over to Ramona. According to the student, when the instructor took the controls he said, 'I got it.' About the same time, the student said that the helicopter drifted a little bit and lost a little altitude. The student got back on the controls and the instructor said 'I got it' and he let go. The helicopter again drifted a little bit and the student saw through the lower bubble a rock sticking up out of the brush. The brush was about 5 feet high. The helicopter drifted over, the skid hit the rock, and the helicopter went into a dynamic rollover. The Safety Board examined the wreckage after recovery. There were no airframe or engine pre-accident discrepancies or mechanical malfunctions observed during the examination of the recovered remains.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.