McDonnell Douglas MD 902 N902AM

Summary

On 11 January 2002 at about 15:40 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD 902 registered N902AM, operated by MD Helicopters, was involved in an accident near Aurora, Colorado, United States. 3 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

11 January 2002 at 15:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Aurora, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.7396, -104.8591

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD 902

Registration

N902AM

Category

Helicopter

Engines

2

Operator

MD Helicopters

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Englewood → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN02LA019

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control due to inadvertent settling with power resulting in a hard landing. Contributing factors include the improperly planned approach, the high density altitude, and the encounter with vortex ring state.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

An instructor pilot was conducting transition training and was demonstrating emergency procedures on anti-torque malfunctions and loss of thrust/fixed pedal settings. After reaching a final approach position at approximately 100 feet agl, he began to demonstrate how to complete an approach with an "Anti-Torque Failure - Fixed Thruster Setting." He established the helicopter on a "shallow" approach angle with a deceleration attitude of approximately 15 to 20 degrees nose up and approximately 300 feet per minute rate of descent. The flight profile "appeared normal" until about 50 to 60 feet above ground level when the helicopter started to descend at a higher than desired rate for demonstration. The pilot applied collective lever control and a shudder was felt in the rotor system, followed by an increase in descent rate. Collective lever application could not arrest the descent. The helicopter struck the ground hard in a nose high attitude, ballooned into the air approximately 3 to 5 feet and slowly rotated approximately 360 degrees. The "thruster" was jammed in the neutral position, but he had no problem landing the helicopter from a hover with power. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the Notar Anti-Torque rotating thruster cone, the aft cross tube, and both landing gear skids.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.