Robinson R22 BETA N227FT

Summary

On 29 June 2015 at about 18:25 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N227FT, operated by Hawaii Pacific Aviation, was involved in an accident near Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

29 June 2015 at 18:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States

Coordinates

19.6889, -155.8644

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N227FT

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2003

Engines

1

Operator

Hawaii Pacific Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kailua-Kona → Kailua-Kona

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA15CA147

2 people had minor injuries.

The flight instructor's decision to conduct a high altitude pinnacle landing without adequate power, which resulted in the helicopter impacting terrain during the approach. Contributing to the accident was the density altitude at the high altitude pinnacle landing site.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that high altitude pinnacle landings were being conducted with the pilot receiving instruction. He reported that the approach was made to a pinnacle landing site with an elevation of "roughly 8000 feet" mean sea level (MSL). The flight instructor reported that "as we got closer to the ground and to the spot (around 5-6ft above the ground with a descent rate of around 100ft/min) the rotor rpm began to droop and we started to descend." He reported that he tried to increase airspeed and go-around and that, "this made us descend further and the gradient of the down sloping terrain was not sufficient for us to avoid ground contact." The helicopter skidded forward on the ground, the right skid caught terrain, and the helicopter rolled over on its left side. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and to the tail boom. The density altitude for the accident area was calculated and exceeded the in ground effect ceiling and out of ground effect ceiling values provided by the flight instructor for the accident area. The flight instructor verified that there were no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.