Robinson Helicopter R22 BETA N4684S accident near Taylor, Texas

Probable cause

The flight instructor’s inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action which resulted in a skid contacting the terrain. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s improper judgement to allow the student pilot to manipulate the flight controls at a low altitude/hover.

NTSB analysis

During the instructional flight, the flight instructor demonstrated each flight control to the student pilot at an altitude of 1 to 4 ft above the ground, and then allowed the student pilot to manipulate one flight control at a time. The student pilot manipulated the cyclic control several times with no issue but later allowed a slow drift to occur, which moved the helicopter away from its initial ground reference point. The flight instructor then took the flight controls and returned the helicopter to the reference point. During the student pilot’s last attempt at manipulating the cyclic control, the helicopter drifted to a dirt area, descended, and its skid contacted the ground. The helicopter rolled over and impacted terrain resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage, main rotor, and main rotor gearbox. The flight instructor stated he was too slow to take the controls from the student pilot, which resulted in the helicopter’s impact with terrain. The flight instructor stated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.

The Helicopter Instructor’s Handbook, FAA-H-8083-4, states in part, “…beginning the flight instruction at altitude is a good way to allow the student to manipulate all of the controls at one time and with a larger margin of error than beginning the flight instruction at a hover.”

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN25LA302 for the full record.