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MIA90FA117

1990-05-09 · FORT PIERCE, Florida, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport FPR

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

IMPROPER TOUCHDOWN DURING THE AUTOROTATION BY THE DUAL STUDENT (ATP), HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN RUNWAY ALIGNMENT, INADEQUATE SUPERVISION BY THE CFI, AND INADEQUATE CREW COORDINATION. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE OBSTRUCTION (TAXIWAY LIGHT).

Factual narrative

THE HELICOPTER WAS ON A VFR CLIMBOUT FROM A PARALLEL TAXIWAY. THE CFI, WHO WAS ALSO THE PIC, WAS PROVIDING INSTRUCTION TO AN ATP WORKING TOWARDS A CFI RATING. THE CFI INITIATED A SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE AT 200 FEET AGL AND 60 KTS. THE ATP BEGAN AN AUTOROTATION. AFTER COMPLETING THE DECELERATION AND INITIAL PITCH PULL, THE HELICOPTER CONTACTED THE GROUND, BOUNCED UP, AND SLID TO THE RIGHT AND REARWARD. THE ATP SAW A TAXIWAY LIGHT AND INCREASED COLLECTIVE TO AVOID A COLLISION, BUT EXPERIENCED RESISTANCE ON THE FLIGHT CONTROLS. THE CFI HAD NOT SEEN THE TAXIWAY LIGHT, BUT NOTICED A DECAY IN ENGINE/ROTOR RPM. HE IMMEDIATELY APPLIED DOWNWARD PRESSURE ON THE COLLECTIVE AND LEFT FORWARD CYCLIC TO STOP THE HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT AND LEVEL THE HELICOPTER. THE CFI STATED THAT HE INFORMED THE ATP, HE HAD THE FLIGHT CONTROLS, WHICH COULD NOT BE SUBSTANTIATED BY THE ATP. THE HELICOPTER STRUCK THE TAXIWAY LIGHT AND TAXIWAY WITH THE RIGHT SKID, THEN ENTERED A DYNAMIC ROLLOVER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_MIA90FA117.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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