What happened
During an instructional flight intended to practice straight and level flight, normal approaches, and simulated forced landings, a helicopter was damaged during an attempted simulated autorotation with power recovery. The flight crew consisted of a flight instructor and a student pilot.
According to the instructor, the student pilot had successfully completed two approaches and one successful autorotation with power recovery prior to the incident. During the final autorotation, the student maintained airspeed and initiated the flare, holding the attitude until the instructor determined the aircraft was too low to maintain the flare.
At that moment, the instructor took control of the aircraft. As the instructor pushed the cyclic forward, the student pilot also began pushing forward. This simultaneous forward input resulted in the tail rotor and boom impacting the ground, causing the aircraft to yaw to the right. The instructor noted that the throttle had already been closed to idle. While attempting to maintain a level attitude and cushion the landing with the collective, the aircraft spun approximately 390 degrees to the right. The flight ended when the helicopter impacted the runway on its skids, causing the left side of the landing gear to collapse.
Findings
- The aircraft sustained damage to the tail rotor and boom.
- The impact resulted in the collapse of the left side of the landing gear.