NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA07CA080
Registry · N74347
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22 BETA
Year of manufacture
2005 · 2 years old at event
TCDS
H10WE · ROBINSON HELICOPTER CO
Engine
LYCOMING O-360 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
20050104
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA00B3
Registrant of record
SPITZER HELICOPTER LLC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The flight instructor's failure to maintain aircraft control during the flare/touchdown while practicing an autorotation which resulted in a hard landing. A factor which contributed to the accident was the downdraft wind condition.
Factual narrative
The certified flight instructor was providing instruction to the private pilot, who was training for a commercial rating. While practicing a 180-degree autorotation, a downdraft was encountered approximately 200 feet above ground level (agl). The flight instructor stated, "I said that I had [the] controls and proceeded to bring back the power at about 150 feet agl. Everything was good; rotor and engine rpm were in the green. I pulled collective up as I've done in previous situations, but this time it was different. I pulled collective, but it was almost as if the helicopter couldn't fly out of it." The helicopter subsequently landed hard, which resulted in the tail boom being severed and the aircraft coming to rest on its right side. There was no post-accident fire, and no anomalies were reported with the helicopter. The certified flight instructor was providing instruction to the private pilot, who was training for a commercial rating. While practicing a 180-degree autorotation, a downdraft was encountered approximately 200 feet above ground level (agl), and the helicopter made a hard landing. The flight instructor stated, "I said that I had [the] controls and proceeded to bring back the power at about 150 feet agl. Everything was good; rotor and engine rpm were in the green. I pulled collective up as I've done in previous situations, but this time it was different. I pulled collective, but it was almost as if the helicopter couldn't fly out of it." No anomalies were reported with the helicopter. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2007_SEA07CA080.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 ↗