What happened
On 25 February 2016, a Robinson R22 Beta, registration G-EFON, was involved in an accident during a solo training flight at Retford Gamston Airport, Nottinghamshire. The student pilot was in the process of preparing for takeoff. After completing the necessary magneto checks, the pilot increased the throttle. As the governor engaged, the helicopter transitioned into a nose-high attitude. This movement caused the tailskid and the tail rotor to strike the ground, which destroyed the tail rotor blades and caused damage to the vertical fin and tail boom. Following the impact, the aircraft rotated clockwise around the rear of the skids at least once before the pilot was able to settle the helicopter back onto its skids and shut down the engine.
The investigation
The investigation was based on the aircraft accident report submitted by the pilot. The inquiry focused on the pilot's control inputs during the critical moment when the governor engaged and power increased. The pilot noted that during this transition, they may have unintentionally maintained aft cyclic input and provided some raised collective input, which contributed to the pitch-up motion.