Bell 407 N512TP

Summary

On 22 June 2021 at about 01:45 local time, a Bell 407 registered N512TP, operated by City of Tampa, was involved in an accident near Tampa, 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

22 June 2021 at 01:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Tampa, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Tampa Exec (VDF)

Coordinates

28.0140, -82.3456

Aircraft

Bell 407

Registration

N512TP

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2002

Engines

1

Operator

City of Tampa

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tampa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

ERA21LA264

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper landing flare while making a power off practice autorotative landing. Contributing was the decreased visual cues provided by the recently paved runway during the night landing conducted with the aid of night vision goggles.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot and flight instructor were practicing straight-in, full touch down power off landings (autorotations) in the helicopter at night, with the aid of night vision goggles (NVGs). The pilot determined where on the runway he was going to land and entered the autorotation at an approximate airspeed of 60 knots. When the helicopter was about 90 to 100 ft above the ground, and the engine rpm was at 99-100%, he entered the flare. At the bottom of the flare, the pilot “bumped” up the collective to arrest the rate of descent and leveled out at what he thought was about 7-10 ft above the runway. At that point, the pilot said it felt like the bottom of the helicopter started to fall out from underneath him. He added more collective to arrest the sink rate, but it had no impact on stopping the vertical sink rate. The low rotor rpm horn sounded right before the helicopter landed hard on the runway. The impact was sufficient to flex the main rotor blades and sever the tail boom. The main rotor blades were also substantially damaged. . The operator reported there were no mechanical deficiencies of the helicopter that contributed to the accident. The runway had been recently paved and was very dark in color. The pilot had conducted “hundreds” of NVG power off landings to this runway in the past, but this was his first time after the runway had been re-paved. This was the flight instructor’s first time executing a practice NVG power off landing to this runway. As such, the visual cues that the pilot was used to experiencing had changed, and most likely affected his ability to judge the helicopter’s height and speed above the ground, which resulted in a higher-than-normal flair, low rotor rpm, and subsequent hard landing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.