What happened
On May 1, 2014, an Agusta Aerospace Corp AW119 MKII, registration N119HF, was conducting a training flight when a simulated engine failure was initiated after takeoff. Once the aircraft reached approximately 50 knots, the flight instructor simulated an engine failure. In response, the pilot under instruction pulled the cyclic aft and increased the collective.
The flight instructor then joined the pilot on the controls to prevent excessive collective input and to lower the nose to a level attitude. As both pilots were on the controls, the collective was increased to cushion the landing. The helicopter landed on the centerline of the paved runway. As the aircraft slid across an uneven surface, it began to porpoise.
To slow the slide, the flight instructor lowered the collective. During this time, a noise was heard and the helicopter began to vibrate before turning 220 degrees to the right. During the sliding motion, a main rotor blade struck and severed the tail boom. There were no injuries resulting from the accident.
The investigation
The investigation found that neither pilot reported any mechanical anomalies prior to the event that would have prevented normal operation.