NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN22LA063
Registry · N911PH
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS HELICOPTER 369E
Year of manufacture
1987 · 34 years old at event
TCDS
H3WE · MD HELICOPTERS INC (MDHI)
Engine
AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19870206
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AC9BAF
Registrant of record
ST LOUIS COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to apply power during the recovery procedure for the practice autorotation, which resulted in a hard landing.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he intended to perform a straight-in autorotation that would terminate with a power on recovery procedure over the runway. The autorotation was performed without incident; however, the pilot did not advance the engine power in time for the recovery. The helicopter impacted the runway hard and came to rest upright on the skids. During the impact sequence, the main rotor blades contacted and severed the tail boom, which resulted in substantial damage. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe and engine that would have precluded normal operations. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_CEN22LA063.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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