N3MA

On April 12, 2000, approximately 1315 mountain daylight time, a Helio H-295, N3MA, was substantially damaged following impact with terrain during a takeoff at Coronado Airport, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The airline transport flight instructor and the private pilot receiving instruction were not injured. The airplane was being operated by the private pilot student under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country instructional flight that was originating at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed, but the instructor pilot said that their intended destination was Mesa, Arizona.

The flight instructor said that they had stopped at Coronado Airport for fuel and rest. He said that hot start procedures were required to start the engine, and that taxi operations to the end of runway 17 were normal. The flight instructor said that takeoff acceleration was "rapid," but that the student rotated the airplane late. The instructor said that he "heard and felt a power reduction, followed by a surge to increase to (full??) power, followed by a second decrease in power of greater magnitude than the first power loss." He then instructed the student to "put it back on the runway." During the ensuing "hard" landing, the right main landing gear collapsed. An FAA inspector examined the airplane and reported that the engine's firewall was wrinkled and the right wing spar was bent.

A witness in an airplane waiting to takeoff behind the accident airplane said the following: "when N3MA release[d] brakes for takeoff, that [the] airplane's left main and tail wheel left the left side of the runway within 50 to 70 yards." He said that the airplane then left the ground and rocked side to side. It then came back down to the runway and was on the asphalt for 2 to 3 seconds. He said the engine sound of "full power" never changed. Next, the airplane "jumped back into the air again, and again rocked from side to side like it was going to stall at any moment." He said the airplane nosed down and hit the runway.