Skip to content

GAA15CA238

2015-08-19 · Ronkonkoma, New York, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ISP

Current FAA registration · N86EH

Make / Model
ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22 BETA
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S ABCCEA

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's loss of control during a hover, which resulted in ground contact and a dynamic rollover. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor's lack of action to remediate the student pilot's control inputs and recover aircraft control.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor reported that he had given instructions to the student pilot to hover over a grass area on the airport property. The flight instructor stated the helicopter was "hovering 18 inches to 30 inches above the ground and then was lying on its side on the ground". The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main rotor, tail boom, and tail rotor drive shaft. In a statement to the FAA, the flight instructor said he had given the controls to the student pilot. The student pilot started to over control the helicopter and it went into a pendulum motion. The helicopter came close to the ground and the right skid made contact with the ground, causing a dynamic rollover. The flight instructor reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The flight instructor reported that he had given instructions to the student pilot to hover over a grass area on the airport property. The flight instructor stated the helicopter was "hovering 18 inches to 30 inches above the ground and then was lying on its side on the ground". The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the main rotor, tail boom, and tail rotor drive shaft. In a statement to the FAA, the flight instructor said he had given the controls to the student pilot. The student pilot started to over control the helicopter and it went into a pendulum motion. The helicopter came close to the ground and the right skid made contact with the ground, causing a dynamic rollover. The flight instructor reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot - C
  • C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Lateral/bank control-Not attained/maintained - C
  • F Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Lack of action-Instructor/check pilot - F
  • — Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Total experience-Student/instructed pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2015_GAA15CA238.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). All research papers