Accident Details
A helicopter was damaged during an instructional flight involving a simulated autorotation with power recovery. The flight instructor and a student pilot were conducting the flight to practice straight and level flight, normal approaches, and simulated forced landings.
Sequence of Events
The instructor reported that the student had successfully completed two approaches and one autorotation with power recovery. During the final autorotation, the student maintained speed and initiated the flare, holding it until the instructor perceived the aircraft was too low to continue. The instructor then took control and pushed the cyclic forward simultaneously with the student pilot, who also began to push forward. Immediately following this, the instructor felt an impact involving the tail rotor and boom, after which the helicopter yawed to the right.
With the throttle already closed to idle, the instructor held the cyclic for a level attitude and prepared to cushion the landing with the collective. The helicopter continued to spin approximately 390 degrees to the right before impacting the runway on its skids, collapsing the left side of the landing gear. The helicopter sustained damage during the event.