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WPR21LA359

2021-09-30 · Phoenix, Arizona, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport KSDL

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The student pilot's failure to maintain helicopter control while making a clearing turn which resulted in a hard landing.

Factual narrative

The solo student pilot reported that, while making a clearing turn, the wind caught the tail and abruptly spun the helicopter. He applied corrective pedal inputs then raised the collective to avoid the ground and the helicopter began to rotate clockwise about the vertical axis and could not be corrected by application of left pedal. About 50 to 60 ft above the ground, he entered an autorotation where the helicopter landed hard and sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The student pilot 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

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Student/instructed pilot
  • — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_WPR21LA359.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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