Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A N9005T

Summary

On 6 September 2013 at about 15:30 local time, a Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A registered N9005T, operated by Scotts Helicopter Services Inc, was involved in an accident near Arlington, Minnesota, 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

6 September 2013 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Arlington, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

44.6200, -94.1469

Aircraft

Continental Copters TOMCAT MK5A

Registration

N9005T

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Scotts Helicopter Services Inc

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Arlington

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN13LA537

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the helicopter while maneuvering when he removed his hand from the collective control while plugging in his radio connection to his helmet, which resulted in the collective moving to the full-down position.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After taking off, the pilot applied pesticides to a field and proceeded to the next field located about 3 miles away. While en route, the pilot wanted to call his truck driver over the two-way radio. However, the radio connection to his helmet was unplugged, so he reached to plug it in with his right hand while his left hand transferred from the collective to the cyclic. Immediately after he plugged in the radio connection to his helmet, the collective slammed into the full-down position. The pilot then quickly grabbed the collective and raised it up. He noticed that the helicopter was losing altitude, that the main rotor rpm was decreasing, and that the engine rpm and main rotor rpm needles were split. He twisted the throttle control back and forth with no effect and then attempted to autorotate. The helicopter touched down hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the tailboom. Examination of the helicopter did not reveal any mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Also, a review of the maintenance logbooks for the helicopter did not show any entries regarding malfunctions with the collective control during previous flights, and the helicopter operated normally during the first flight of the day. The pilot stated that he could have chosen to not unplug his helmet and keep his hand on the collective control at all times, which would have prevented the collective from slamming down while he was connecting his radio cables to his helmet. This model helicopter does not have a friction control mechanism on the collective control, and, if it is not held in place by the pilot, it can move up or down during flight. It is likely that, when the pilot removed his hand from the collective control and was distracted with plugging in his helmet radio connection, the collective moved to the full-down position and that he did not have enough altitude to recover the helicopter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.