Robinson R22 BETA N70035

Summary

On 4 December 2007 at about 15:50 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N70035, operated by Tim Roland, was involved in an accident near Gainesville, Florida, United States. One person was 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

4 December 2007 at 15:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Gainesville, Florida, United States

Coordinates

29.4069, -82.2697

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N70035

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Tim Roland

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St. Petersburg → Gainesville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

NYC08LA052

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to follow the published emergency procedure. Contributing to the accident was a malfunction of the clutch assembly.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot of the helicopter was under flight instruction to add a rotorcraft rating to his certificate and was on a solo cross-country flight. The helicopter had been in cruise flight for about 1 hour and 20 minutes when the pilot noticed an intermittent illumination of the "clutch light" and perceived a loss of altitude. The pilot "reset the circuit breaker" and increased collective to regain the lost altitude. He then perceived a loss of rotor rpm and slowly and continuously lowered the collective to maintain the rotor rpm in the normal operating range. When the helicopter reached approximately 150 feet above ground level, the pilot could no longer maintain rotor rpm and entered autorotation. During the descent, he selected an empty parking lot for a landing, where the helicopter landed hard, bounced, and then rolled over onto its side. He added that the engine was running before and after ground contact, and he did not report any deficiencies in the handling characteristics of the helicopter. Functional testing of the clutch assembly revealed that the rigging and operation of the assembly were within factory specifications, but the engagement cycle time exceeded the factory limit. The pilot stated that he "reset" the circuit breaker, and continued to adjust the collective pitch to regain altitude and rotor rpm. The emergency procedure listed in the Pilot's Operating Handbook directed the pilot to "pull" the clutch circuit breaker and land immediately.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.