NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CEN24LA343
Registry · N896J
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
ROBINSON HELICOPTER R44
Year of manufacture
2022 · 2 years old at event
TCDS
H11NM · ROBINSON HELICOPTER CO
Engine
LYCOMING O-540-F1B5 (260 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20220225
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AC5C66
Registrant of record
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The student pilot’s failure to maintain helicopter control which resulted in impact with the ground. Contributing to the outcome was the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action.
Factual narrative
The flight instructor reported that she was teaching her student to hover as part of a flight lesson. She transferred the flight controls to her student but continued to monitor the cyclic, collective, and tail rotor controls. The helicopter drifted aft and to the right while pitching nose up, as the student increased aft cyclic. The flight instructor attempted to correct by increasing forward cyclic but the tail struck the ground. The flight instructor stated that the helicopter began to violently vibrate, and she heard a grinding noise. As she lowered the collective, the helicopter impacted the ground, and the right skid broke off. The helicopter rolled over and came to rest on its right side, sustaining substantial damage to the main rotor system, tail boom, and tail rotor system. The flight instructor reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions 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).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-(general)-(general)-Not attained/maintained
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Delayed action-Instructor/check pilot
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2024_CEN24LA343.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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