Aerospatiale AS350 N191EH

Summary

On 26 June 2010 at about 15:15 local time, a Aerospatiale AS350 registered N191EH, operated by ERA Helicopters LLC, was involved in an accident near Lake Charles, Louisiana, 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

26 June 2010 at 15:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

Chennault International Airpor (CWF)

Coordinates

30.2064, -93.1392

Aircraft

Aerospatiale AS350

Registration

N191EH

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

ERA Helicopters LLC

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lake Charles → Lake Charles

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10CA352

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s inadvertent entry into ground resonance when demonstrating a hydraulic failure running landing, which resulted in substantial damage to the helicopter. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's and instructor pilot's failure to control the drift and rate of descent during the practice maneuvers.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor was preparing the commercial-rated pilot for a check ride in the helicopter equipped with skid-type landing gear. During one of three running landings to a touchdown, the flight instructor was demonstrating a practice hydraulic failure running landing and the helicopter started to get into ground resonance as he initially touched down. The flight instructor increased power to become briefly airborne and continued the maneuver to a normal practice hydraulic failure running landing. After the ground resonance experience, the flight instructor continued the flight training session for an additional 45 minutes and conducted another hydraulic failure running landing, several slope landings, and five hovering autorotations. Two of the hovering autorotations were described as rough, with an undesired drift to the front left. The flight instructor then left the airport where they had been practicing and returned to their home base airport where they conducted two straight-in autorotations and three 180-degree autorotations, all to a power recovery. After shut-down procedures were completed the two pilots were surprised when they discovered substantial damage, with buckling around the full circumference of the forward part of the tail boom and a crack in the skin at the 6 o’clock position. The flight instructor stated that he thought the damage occurred when they were conducting hovering autorotations. The two pilots reported that they were not injured.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.