N212HT

On September 28, 2021, at 1900 eastern daylight time, a Robinson R44 II helicopter, N212HT, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Miami, Florida. The private pilot sustained minor injuries and the three passengers were not injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot provided a detailed statement and was interviewed by telephone. He said a colleague wanted to take two of his friends for a helicopter ride and the pilot agreed. The pilot rented the helicopter from an individual at Palm Beach County Park Airport (LNA), West Palm Beach, Florida, flew to Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida, picked up the three passengers, flew around the Miami area, and returned to TMB, where he landed the helicopter to deplane the passengers.

According to the pilot, he lowered the collective and began the shutoff procedure. He said he first reduced the throttle to idle and applied collective friction. The pilot further said his recollection of events from this point was “blurry,” as the helicopter began “spinning” and the helicopter subsequently impacted the ground on its left side.

In a written statement, a passenger stated that, once on the ground, the pilot “was reducing the engine and preparing for shutdown [when] suddenly we started spinning.” He said the pilot attempted to regain control, but the spinning was “very powerful” before the helicopter became airborne and then crashed.

A flight instructor and his student witnessed the event from the ground. The instructor said that he saw the helicopter rotating around the mast “out of control” before it descended to ground contact.

The student stated that he observed the passenger onboard the accident helicopter remove his shoulder harnesses and headset when the helicopter “made a strong turn to the left,” rotated “uncontrollably” around the main rotor mast, and “took off without control” before “plummeting” to the ground.

Surveillance video captured the accident sequence from a front quartering view toward the right side of the cockpit. The “coning” of the rotor system reduced to a flat rotor disc after touchdown, and the passenger in the helicopter’s left front seat could be seen removing his shoulder harnesses and headset. The passenger moved the headset to his front when the helicopter began a rapid yaw to its left and rotated around the main rotor mast. After one full revolution, the helicopter lifted rapidly from the ground and climbed immediately out of the camera’s view as it continued to rotate rapidly around the main rotor mast.

Seconds later, the helicopter descended back into view in an uncontrolled descent. The main rotor disc severed the tailboom in two places ahead of the tail section, which included the tailrotor and tailrotor gearbox, before ground contact.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for rotorcraft-helicopter, which was issued based on his pilot certificate issued by the State of Israel. His most recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) second-class medical certificate was issued March 10, 2021. The pilot declared 220 total hours of flight experience on that date.

Review of the pilot’s logbook by an FAA aviation safety inspector revealed an estimated 178 total hours of flight experience logged, with an estimated 100 total hours of experience in the accident helicopter make and model, and 78 in the Robinson R22. Those hours were accrued over a 10-year span, with two flights recorded in 2021. One flight was recorded May 1, 2021, in a Robinson R44 helicopter, and the other was recorded in Israel on July 3, 2021, in a Robinson R22 helicopter. The July flight was annotated as a “checkride.”

The pilot had obtained logbook endorsements for FAA Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 73 Awareness training for the Robinson R22/R44 model helicopters on August 20, 2012, and December 6, 2013; however, his logbook did not contain any of the required endorsements to act as pilot-in-command as a solo student pilot nor had the pilot obtained the proper endorsements to act as pilot-in-command in either the Robinson R22 or the Robinson R44 after receiving his private pilot certificate as required by (SFAR) 73 2 (B)1 and (B)2, which was an annual requirement at his experience level. Additionally, at the time of the accident, the pilot did not meet recency of flight experience requirements to carry passengers in the R44.

The inspector’s review also revealed that the pilot conducted six flights between April 2020 and January 2021 without a valid medical certificate.

The 1051 recorded weather observation at TMB included wind from 090° at 7 knots. The temperature was 26°C and the dewpoint was 19°C.

The helicopter was examined at the accident site by FAA aviation safety inspectors, and all major components were accounted for at the scene. The helicopter rested on its left side, with the cockpit and cabin area largely intact. The left windscreen was fractured and separated. Control continuity was confirmed from the flight controls to the main rotor head, and to the tailrotor through the severed sections of the tailboom.

A video study was completed by a National Transportation Safety Board performance engineer. A comparison of the manufacturer’s published maximum main rotor rpm operating limit of 408 rpm and the video frame rate revealed that, throughout the approach and landing and the uncontrolled takeoff and impact, the observed rotor speed was constant and close to the nominal speed of 408 rpm.

During the telephone interview, the pilot was reminded of what he wrote in his written statement, and he said he didn’t remember anything in addition to what he had written. He had no recollection of his front seat passenger removing his seatbelts or headset, and only remembered what he was told after the accident. The pilot was asked if his left hand was guarding the collective control, or if he was perhaps using his left hand to shut off radios or some other task, and he said he could not remember where his left hand was placed when the helicopter started to rotate around the mast.

The pilot was asked if his watch or clothing could have interfered with the collective control, and he said “no”.

When asked about the performance and handling of the helicopter, the pilot said, “Everything went well. Just like the many other times that I’ve flown it.”