Bell OH58C N911GV

Summary

On 25 June 2019 at about 02:00 local time, a Bell OH58C registered N911GV, operated by City Of Gainesville Police Dept, was involved in an accident near Gainesville, Florida, 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

25 June 2019 at 02:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Gainesville, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Gainesville Rgnl (GNV)

Coordinates

29.6933, -82.2773

Aircraft

Bell OH58C

Registration

N911GV

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1970

Engines

1

Operator

City Of Gainesville Police Dept

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Gainesville → Gainesville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA19LA206

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor's failure to maintain control of the helicopter during a simulated forced landing autorotation, which resulted in pylon whirl that substantially damaged the helicopter.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an night instructional flight in a helicopter, the flight instructor was demonstrating a straight-in autorotation to landing following a simulated engine failure. At touchdown, the heels of the landing skids touched first and the helicopter “rocked” forward, which was followed by several more “throws” in a counterclockwise motion that became progressively more “violent.” The instructor described that the helicopter was experiencing pylon whirl and continued to manipulate the flight controls during the ground run until helicopter came to rest. The helicopter’s tailboom was substantially damaged during the accident sequence.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.