Robinson R-22 BETA N7507G

Summary

On 31 January 2002 at about 17:04 local time, a Robinson R-22 BETA registered N7507G was involved in an accident near Silver City, Montana, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 January 2002 at 17:04

Classification

Accident

Location

Silver City, Montana, United States

Nearest airport

Silver City (MT18)

Coordinates

46.7494, -112.1803

Aircraft

Robinson R-22 BETA

Registration

N7507G

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Helena → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

NTSB number

SEA02FA035

2 people were seriously injured.

Both the pilot/owner and the FAA inspector pilots' failure to maintain adequate rotor RPM during a practice auto rotation landing which resulted in a hard landing. A contributing factor was the pilot/owner's application of excessive anti-torque pedal during the initiation of the auto rotation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot/owner of the Robinson R-22 helicopter along with the FAA pilot/inspector departed on a flight to build time for the inspector. The total flight time accrued in his logbook was 827 hours of which 693 hours were in the R-22 helicopter (681 pilot-in-command). The FAA pilot/inspector had approximately 8,000 hours of helicopter time of which approximately 6,000 hours were logged as pilot in command and 5,000 were as an instructor. He had less than 50 hours of flight time in the R-22. The FAA pilot/inspector demonstrated an auto rotation and then turned the controls over to the pilot/owner who then executed the same maneuver. The FAA pilot reported that at the initiation of the maneuver, the pilot/owner applied abrupt, full left (anti-torque) pedal at which time the helicopter entered into an uncoordinated turn, began to vibrate violently and the airspeed dropped off down to between 30 to 20 knots. The pilot/owner continued to fly the helicopter recovering from the yaw and began to apply collective approximately 250 feet agl when the FAA pilot/inspector got on the controls to stop the recovery, which he believed was initiated at an altitude higher than desired. Both pilots were on the controls and the pilot/owner reported that he had full throttle with normal rotor RPM about 150 feet agl, however the helicopter landed hard and rolled on to it's right side.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.