Robinson R-22 BETA N303PR

Summary

On 5 April 2005 at about 00:00 local time, a Robinson R-22 BETA registered N303PR, operated by Avia Aviation Services, Inc., was involved in an accident near Corvallis, Oregon, 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

5 April 2005 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Corvallis, Oregon, United States

Nearest airport

Corvallis Municipal (KCVO)

Coordinates

44.4972, -123.2897

Aircraft

Robinson R-22 BETA

Registration

N303PR

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Avia Aviation Services, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Corvallis → Corvallis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA05LA070

Nobody was injured.

The student pilot's failure to maintain directional control while attempting to turn in the direction necessary to air-taxi to the landing pad, and the flight instructor's failure to take remedial action soon enough to correct the problems created when the student lost directional control. Factors include a tailwind encountered by the aircraft during the aforementioned turn.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student was at the controls as the instructional flight approached the airport from the east on a practice VOR-A approach. Because the student misunderstood the instructor’s directions to touch down on the numbers of Runway 17, he proceeded to a grassy area between the approach ends of Runway 35 and Runway 27. During the last part of his approach to the grassy area, the student had the helicopter headed into the wind, but when he was about 30 to 40 feet above the ground, he initiated a right turn in order to air-taxi to the helicopter landing pad. During that turn, the helicopter was exposed to a direct tailwind of between five to seven knots, and during that sequence of events, the student failed to maintain directional control, and the aircraft began spinning to the right. Although the instructor pilot took control of the aircraft, her remedial action was not taken soon enough to recover control before the helicopter's left skid impacted the terrain. After the skid hit the terrain, the aircraft rolled over onto its left side, where it came to rest. There were no issues with the helicopter's flight control system, nor any problem with the engine's production of power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.