Robinson R22 BETA N7530D

Summary

On 8 April 2023 at about 18:00 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N7530D, operated by Utah State University, was involved in an accident near Midway, Utah, 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

8 April 2023 at 18:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Midway, Utah, United States

Coordinates

40.5707, -111.4766

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N7530D

Category

Helicopter

Year built

2004

Engines

1

Operator

Utah State University

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ogden → Heber City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR23LA147

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain aircraft control during a pinnacle landing that resulted in a hard landing and subsequent roll over.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that during an instructional flight, he and his student were approaching a ridge line to conduct a practice pinnacle landing. The student pilot stated that as they were over the ridge line, the helicopter was struck by a wind gust, and it yawed to the right. He added left anti-torque pedal to correct the yaw, then the low RPM horn sounded, and the instructor took the flight controls. He lowered the collective and added forward cyclic to move away from terrain, however the helicopter landed hard in the snow and rolled onto its right side. The tail boom was substantially damaged. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.