History of the Flight
The student pilot, who held a student licence and had 47 hours total flying experience (including 2 hours on type), was conducting a solo circuit sortie as part of his Private Pilot Licence course. After landing from the third circuit, the pilot noticed that his jacket, which he had secured on the left seat with the seat belt, had moved and was resting next to an open vent in the front left door. Aware of the risks of loose objects being sucked out and striking the tail rotor, the pilot reached to retrieve the jacket before commencing the fourth circuit.
Although the pilot does not recall the exact sequence, it is likely that the jacket was caught around the left collective lever. As he pulled the jacket, it raised the lever, increasing the pitch on the main rotor blades. The helicopter pitched nose up, causing the rear tail stinger to contact the ground. The helicopter then yawed to the left and rolled onto its right side, coming to rest on its right side. The entire sequence, captured by airfield CCTV, took four seconds. The pilot was able to vacate the helicopter via the left door but suffered a head injury. The helicopter was damaged beyond economic repair.
Aircraft Information
The Robinson R44 II Raven II (registration G-LLIZ, serial number 12140, year of manufacture 2008) is powered by a Lycoming IO-540-AE1A5 piston engine. It features a centre-mounted cyclic control, a collective lever to the left of each front seat, and tail rotor pedals. Dual controls remained fitted as the manufacturer does not recommend removing them for student solo sorties. The cyclic and collective controls have adjustable friction devices, but the pilot did not apply them as he was in the middle of a flight and planned to take off shortly after retrieving the jacket.
Analysis
In reaching to the left side of the cockpit to retrieve the jacket, the pilot did not realise the jacket had become caught around the left collective lever. Pulling the jacket raised the collective, increasing blade pitch and causing the nose to pitch up. It is possible that the pilot's body position also caused an inadvertent application of left pedal, causing the helicopter to yaw. As the helicopter was in contact with the ground, the yaw caused the skids to catch the surface, generating a right roll that led to ground contact.
The pilot was looking inside the helicopter when the movement began and had little chance to notice and stop it before recovery was impossible. Only rapidly lowering the collective could have prevented the roll once the helicopter began to pivot about its skids. The use of friction devices might have prevented the collective from being pulled up by the jacket. Additionally, if the pilot had reduced engine and rotor rpm using the twist-grip throttle before moving around the cockpit, the main rotor might have flapped and struck the tailcone when the collective was inadvertently raised, resulting in similar damage.
Conclusion
An innocuous reach to retrieve a jacket began a sequence of events that led to the helicopter coming to rest on its right side and being damaged beyond economic repair. When a helicopter is stationary on the ground and the pilot attends to items inside the cockpit, incidents can rapidly occur without the pilot being alerted because they may not be looking outside. Ensuring all items inside the cockpit are secure and that the pilot is comfortable before flight minimises the risk of such events.