Schweizer 269C N2196F

Summary

On 2 June 2012 at about 17:35 local time, a Schweizer 269C registered N2196F, operated by TYJ Global, was involved in an accident near Denver, Colorado, 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

2 June 2012 at 17:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Denver, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Rocky Mountain Metro Airport (BJC)

Coordinates

39.9133, -105.1100

Aircraft

Schweizer 269C

Registration

N2196F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

TYJ Global

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Denver → Denver

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12LA343

Nobody was injured.

The inadequately overhauled landing gear dampers that allowed initiation of a ground resonance event from which the pilot was unable to recover. Contributing to the accident was the overhaul facility's failure to identify the overcharged dampers and a lack of any published acceptance testing criteria for the dampers in the manufacturer's overhaul procedure manual, resulting in the out-of-specification dampers being provided to the operator. Also contributing was the ineffective damper inspection conducted by the operator's maintenance personnel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, during an introductory flight, he was conducting a 2-foot hover in the helicopter. An airplane started to taxi in front of the helicopter, so the pilot set the helicopter back down on the ground, left skid first and then the right. The helicopter drifted right as the skid made contact, and the pilot added left cyclic input to remedy the drift as he also lowered the collective. As the skids started to settle apart, the pilot noticed a low frequency vibration that immediately got worse. He determined that the helicopter was entering ground resonance, but the engine and collective parameters were too low to lift the helicopter off of the ground, as indicated in the helicopter's operating procedures. The pilot reduced the throttle to idle and "within seconds, the helicopter had shaken itself apart." Postaccident testing revealed that all four landing gear dampers failed to meet the manufacturer's serviceable testing specifications, and two dampers were overcharged. Maintenance records indicated that the front dampers had been replaced with overhauled units about 10 months and about 534 flight hours before the accident. The aft dampers had been replaced with overhauled units about 7 months and about 280 flight hours before the accident. A review of the manufacturer's overhaul procedure for the landing gear dampers revealed that the procedure used by the overhaul facility did not include functional testing of the dampers following overhaul, which would have identified the out-of-specification condition before installation. Maintenance procedures required periodic inspection of the landing gear dampers, and the operator stated that the 100-hour inspection procedure was accomplished about 1 month before the accident. The mechanic who accomplished this inspection reported that he used the manufacturer's procedures to complete the inspection. However, the out-of-specification damper conditions were not detected. As a result of this and a similar accident (CEN12LA353), the helicopter manufacturer has committed to revising the overhaul manual to include testing procedures and criteria for overhauled landing gear dampers.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.