McDonnell Douglas 500N N521HB
16 October 2009 · Los Alamitos, California, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 16 October 2009 at about 17:45 local time, a McDonnell Douglas 500N registered N521HB, operated by City of Huntington Beach, was involved in an accident near Los Alamitos, California, 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.
The record
- Date
- at 17:45
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Los Alamitos, California, United States
- Nearest airport
- Los Alamitos Army Airfield (KSLI)
- Coordinates
- 33.7900, -118.0514
- Aircraft
- McDonnell Douglas 500N
- Registration
- N521HB
- Category
- Helicopter
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- City of Huntington Beach
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Huntington Beac → Los Alamitos
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- WPR10TA025
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Probable cause
The flight instructor's delayed remedial action during the instructional autorotative landing, which resulted in a failure to maintain an adequate rotor rpm to avoid a hard landing.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The certified flight instructor (CFI) and the pilot he was instructing were practicing emergency procedures, in particular, power recovery autorotations. At 700 feet above ground level (agl), the CFI rolled the throttle off (idle) and entered the autorotation. At 50 feet agl he rolled the throttle on late, realized the ground was rapidly approaching, and decided to perform a running landing. The pilot reported that he inadvertently applied partial throttle, which did not allow the engine to regain full power. With the throttle positioned at 25 percent, the rotor rpm decayed, and when the helicopter contacted the ground, a rotor blade dipped down and struck the tail boom. The pilot stated that the helicopter and engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions during the flight.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other McDonnell Douglas 500 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct 2011 | McDonnell Douglas 500D | Colusa, California, United States | PJ Helicopters | Minor injuries | - |
| 12 Jul 2012 | McDonnell Douglas 500 | Kastire, Latvia | - | No injuries | - |
| 28 Jul 2005 | McDonnell Douglas 500D | Delta Junction, Alaska, United States | U. S. Department of the Interior | No injuries | - |
| 18 Apr 2014 | McDonnell Douglas 500N | Santa Monica, California, United States | V & A Aviation LLC | No injuries | - |
| 12 Aug 2014 | McDonnell Douglas 500N | Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States | David Hansen | No injuries | - |
| 2 Sep 2016 | McDonnell Douglas 500N | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | City and County of Honolulu | Serious injuries | - |
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Apr 2009 | Cessna 172P | Livermore, California, United States | Wollard Aviation Inc. | No injuries | - |
| 10 Dec 2009 | Piper PA-38-112 | Ojai, California, United States | Aviation Pacific Inc | Fatal | 2 |
| 28 Feb 2009 | Piper PA-28R-200 | Fallbrook, California, United States | M.Y. Air Corp | No injuries | - |
| 28 Feb 2009 | Mooney M20E | Rio Linda, California, United States | David Michaud | Fatal | 2 |
| 29 Nov 2009 | Curtiss-Wright TRAVEL AIR 4000 | Torrance, California, United States | Smith Richard Charles | No injuries | - |
| 23 Aug 2009 | Piper PA-24-260 | Santa Barbara, California, United States | Kris S Michel | No injuries | - |