Crash kills pilot and Troy Gentry

[Wally]

Overspeed??? If there's ANY doubt about survival without damaging the helicopter- then put down in bits and shards in as survivable situation as possible as long as you and your passenger walk away.

Sully is justifiably famous for his exceptional, outstanding judgement and superb skill, deservedly so. That airplane wasn't unscathed but everybody walked away because he went for maximum chance of survival instead of trying the much riskier perfection offered by returns to airports.

The aircraft is threatening your life because it is broken. Waste it if you have to, but SURVIVE! Overspeed that bee-yach(t) but walk away.

[iChris]

It appears at this point, this will go down with that old story line:

 

Examination of the rotor blades revealed evidence of low rotor energy at impact. Loss of engine RPM control for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's failure to maintain main rotor rpm during the subsequent autorotation. A factor in the accident was the unsuitable nature of the terrain for a forced landing.

 

According to the chief flight instructor for the operator, the purpose of the flight was to provide an orientation/pleasure flight to the passenger who was scheduled to perform in a concert on the airport later that evening.

 

Several minutes after takeoff, the pilot reported over the airport UNICOM frequency that he was unable to control engine rpm with throttle inputs. He reported he could "roll" the twist-grip, but that there was no corresponding change in engine rpm when he did so.

The company flight instructor and another certificated helicopter flight instructor were monitoring the frequency and engaged the pilot in conversation about potential courses of action to affect the subsequent landing. Options discussed included a shallow approach to a run-on landing, or a power-off, autorotational descent to landing. The pilot elected to stop the engine and perform an autorotation, which was a familiar procedure he had performed numerous times in the past. Prior to entering the autorotation, the pilot was advised to initiate the maneuver over the runway.

The company flight instructor reported that the helicopter entered the autorotation about 950 ft. above ground level, and that the helicopter was quiet during its descent "because the engine was off." During the descent, the rotor rpm decayed to the point where the instructor could see the individual rotor blades. The helicopter descended from view prior to reaching the runway threshold and the sounds of impact were heard. Both instructors reported that a high-pitched "whine" could be heard from the helicopter during the latter portion of the descent.

A video forwarded by local police showed the helicopter south of the runway as it entered what appeared to be a descent profile consistent with an autorotation. Toward the end of the video, the descent profile became more vertical and the rate of descent increased before the helicopter descended out of view. No sound could be heard from the helicopter.

 

Excerpts of the pilot's logbook revealed he had logged 480.9 total hours of flight experience. It was estimated that he had accrued over 300 total hours of flight experience in the accident helicopter make and model. The last entry logged was for 1.2 hours in the accident helicopter on the day of the accident.

 

Each of the three blades was bent significantly at its respective blade root. The blades showed little to no damage along their respective spans toward the blade tips, which was consistent with low rotor rpm at ground contact.

 

NTSB Identification: ERA17FA317

Edited September 21, 2017 by iChris