Student Pilot Helicopter Rolls Over During Landing Attempt

Incident Summary

During a solo training flight, a student pilot was maneuvering a helicopter while attempting to land and overshot the landing pad. Before returning to the landing pad, the helicopter began to turn to the right. The pilot applied corrective left pedal input, but the right turn continued and accelerated. The pilot believed either the tailrotor had failed or there was a loss of tailrotor effectiveness and lowered the collective. The helicopter touched down still turning with a slight nose-up pitch and subsequently rolled over onto the left side.

Damage Examination

The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tailboom and main rotor drive system. A postaccident examination of the airframe revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.