NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC03CA207
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The certified flight instructor's failure to maintain ground clearance and his delayed remedial action, which resulted in a rollover.
Factual narrative
On September 28, 2003, about 1200 eastern daylight time, a Robinson R-22A, N56MU, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground while hovering at Laurence G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts. The certificated flight instructor (CFI) and a student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. The student pilot had accumulated about 3 hours of helicopter flight experience. According to the CFI, the student pilot was practicing hovering, when the helicopter descended "too low." The helicopter momentarily contacted the ground while drifting to the right, and rolled over. The CFI stated he did not experience any mechanical malfunctions. He reported 1,059 hours of total flight experience, which included 641 hours in helicopters, and 471 hours in make and model. The certified flight instructor (CFI) was providing flight instruction to the student pilot, who had accumulated about 3 hours of helicopter flight experience. According to the CFI, the student pilot was practicing hovering, when the helicopter descended "too low." The helicopter momentarily contacted the ground while drifting to the right, and rolled over. The CFI further stated he did not experience any mechanical malfunctions. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2003_NYC03CA207.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Contractor Report (CR)
Icing Physics Studies Using the 3D SIDRM Test Article: 2023 Icing Tests Analysis
In-flight icing is an important safety issue and is a factor that affects aircraft design and performance. Newer regulations are driving a need for improvements in airframe and engine icing simulation…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning for UAV-Assisted 5G Network Slicing: A Comparative Study of MAPPO, MADDPG, and MADQN
The growing demand for robust, scalable wireless networks in the 5G-and-beyond era has led to the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mobile base stations to enhance coverage in dense urb…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Mathematical Model on the Temporal Dynamics of Aviation Competitive Pricing
This study investigates the competitive dynamics of airport pricing using U.S. airport data to validate the findings. It employs linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equation models to analyze t…
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – March 2025
This NASA Icing Update was prepared for presentation to the SAE International AC-9C Inflight Icing Technology Committee. This update includes the following topics: planned Rotational Icing Scaling tes…
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
An energy-stable phase-field model for droplet icing simulations
A phase-field model for three-phase flows is established by combining the Navier-Stokes (NS) and the energy equations, with the Allen-Cahn (AC) and Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations and is demonstrated ana…
- NASA NTRS 2024 · Presentation
NASA Icing Update – Oct 2024
This presentation provides a status update on select NASA icing research activities for the SAE AC-9C Icing Technical Committee Meeting on Oct 21, 2024.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗