Bell 407 N407BP

Summary

On 27 April 2004 at about 16:30 local time, a Bell 407 registered N407BP, operated by Bell Training Academy, was involved in an accident near Hurst, Texas, 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

27 April 2004 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Hurst, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Bell Hurst Training Facility (OTE2)

Coordinates

32.8000, -97.1669

Aircraft

Bell 407

Registration

N407BP

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Bell Training Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hurst → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW04LA117

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's excessive flare prior to touchdown during the practice autorotation which resulted in the tailboom stinger striking the ground. A contributing factor was the flight instructor's delay to take remedial action.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During a recurrent training flight, the 1,413-hour commercial pilot who was receiving the training, and was at the controls, initiated a full-touchdown practice autorotation in the single engine helicopter. During the landing "flare," just prior to touchdown, the helicopter’s pitch attitude became "excessively" nose high. Subsequently, the tailboom stinger struck the ground, which resulted in structural damage to the tailboom. The 13,200-hour CFI stated that he was "unable to correct the aircraft attitude" before the stinger struck the ground. The helicopter was operating normally during the flight, and post-accident examination of the flight controls did not reveal anomalies that could have contributed to the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.