What happened
During the second day of training for a newly hired commercial pilot, a flight instructor was conducting maneuvers in a helicopter. Following a landing on Runway 03 at an airport featuring a 4,999-foot asphalt-concrete runway, the instructor instructed the trainee to perform an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) takeoff as outlined in the company operations manual.
The procedure required the pilot to maintain a hover between three and five feet to conduct a power check before applying takeoff power. During this hover, the flight instructor initiated a hovering autorotation. In response, the pilot applied forward cyclic and then pulled up on the collective. The instructor noted that the pilot's flight control inputs were excessive, which created a high sink rate and an unstable attitude for landing.
To prevent a nose-low impact, the instructor took control of the aircraft to level the attitude and cushion the descent. During this maneuver, most of the collective was used, resulting in low main rotor RPM. The helicopter subsequently descended approximately one to two feet, impacting the terrain in a level attitude before bouncing forward approximately four feet. There were no injuries reported in the incident.