NTSB CAROL · Event
Event WPR21LA109
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s improper pitch attitude for landing and the inadequate supervision of the flight instructor, resulted in the main rotor blades impacting the tail boom.
Factual narrative
The helicopter flight instructor reported that the intent of the flight was to perform autorotation training. With the foreign rated pilot at the flight controls, he noted a nose-high attitude while performing an autorotation. The touchdown was not hard or aggressive but when the helicopter rotated forward on the ground, the main rotor blades flexed down and impacted the tail boom. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the tail boom. The flight instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. 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).
- — Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action performance-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring other person-Instructor/check pilot
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Pitch control-Not attained/maintained
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_WPR21LA109.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. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Semantic Scholar 2020 · Article (Pilot and Feasibility Studies)
Assessing the effectiveness of a comprehensive menstrual health intervention program in Ugandan schools (MENISCUS): process evaluation of a pilot intervention study
Background Poor menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is a globally recognised public health challenge. A pilot study of an MHH intervention was conducted in two secondary schools in Entebbe, Uganda, ove…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2020 · Conference paper
Drones: Where does the National Airspace System Start?
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Unmanned Aeronautical Vehicles (UAV), drones and Personal Aerial Vehicles (PAV) constitute the greatest technological advancement since the jet age.
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