Ground strike

The pilot was carrying out his first solo flight. During the landing he lost directional control and the aircraft left the runway. The nose gear collapsed and the propeller struck the ground.

The student was landing at the completion of a solo training flight. After an apparently normal touchdown, the aircraft suddenly swung to the right and tipped forward on to its nose, collapsing the nose gear leg in the process. The pilot reported that, after landing, she applied right rudder to correct the aircraft back to the centreline but inadvertently applied right brake. This resulted in her losing directional control of the aircraft.

Findings

1. The pilot inadvertently applied right brake while attempting to control direction by the application of right rudder.

2. The pilot lost directional control of the aircraft. 3. The pilot's flying experience level was low.

The helicopter was being repositioned near a cliff edge. As it was lifted to a one metre hover a gust of wind tilted the tail down and the pilot felt a 'thump'. He initially raised the collective control, but the helicopter began to rotate rapidly to the right. The throttle was closed and the collective control lowered to prevent the helicopter from falling over the cliff edge. The helicopter landed heavily, after rotating through 270 degrees, bending and breaking the skid cross tubes.

Inspection revealed that the tail rotor guard had failed when it contacted the ground. It was then struck by the tail rotor causing the tail rotor drive shaft to fail at the main transmission.

The pilot had landed the aircraft and was decelerating on the runway when an object was seen in the grass directly ahead. Avoiding action was not possible and the left mainwheel hit the object, which was later identified as an old runway marker. The marker was thrown up and hit the tailplane, causing damage of the left horizontal stabiliser. The marker was partly rusty and was obscured from observation because of the long grass and the camouflaging effect of the surrounding colours.

The pilot elected to test fly the aircraft and then return to home base without first consulting an engineer.

Shortly after commencing the take-off the aircraft made an uncommanded turn to the right and ran off the sealed runway. Before the aircraft could be brought to a stop the left propeller was damaged as it struck a T-VASIS box.

The crew had deactivated the nosewheel steering system during the early portion of the take-off, in accordance with standard operating procedures. An extensive investigation by the operator and manufacturer did not disclose the cause of the uncommanded turn.

The manufacturer recommended, and the operator has adopted, a modified procedure aimed at avoiding a repetition of this incident.

The pilot was carrying out dual instruction for a student helicopter pilot. He reported that on the second practice "engine off landing", as the helicopter was sliding along the ground at about 20 kph, the aircraft encountered some rough ground. The front section of the left skid was torn off and the helicopter slewed to the left and tilted nose-down. The forward section of the right skid then separated and the main rotor blades contacted the ground before severing the tail boom.

The student pilot was conducting his third solo session of circuit training.

On the second circuit, which was to be a full stop, the aircraft encountered turbulence on short final which caused the aircraft to climb and drop a wing.

The pilot pushed the nose down then flared the aircraft. After touchdown, the aircraft bounced and began a series of purposing manoeuvres until the nose leg broke and the aircraft came to a stop with damage to the propeller, nose gear and tail skid.

The instructor was giving the pilot a type endorsement and this was to be the final circuit. It was thought the gear was extended on downwind with appropriate cockpit indications to confirm this. Just prior to touch down the gear horn sounded and the instructor called for a go around. Power was applied as the aircraft contacted the ground.

The landing gear legs were still up after the accident, but the gear doors had been open and were damaged. This was consistent with a gear down selection being made at the last moment.

The aircraft was parked on the aircraft loading area. There were flood lights on the southern side, but the light from these only dimly illuminated the northern side. After engine start the pilot turned on the taxi and landing lights and started to taxi towards the northern side. There was a taxi line along the northern side, leading out of the area in a westerly direction. This line was not seen by the pilot, possibly because he was changing the radio frequency selection from Clearance Delivery to Surface Movement Control.

The aircraft left the sealed area, tracking about north-west and ran onto the grass. This was outside the limit of the marked movement area. Realising he was now on the grass the pilot turned the aircraft left, but the right main wheel struck an exposed concrete slab. The right main gear leg collapsed.

The pilot landed on the landing strip. He was aware that the landing strip was wet, covered with grass and probably soft under the surface. The aircraft felt sluggish during the landing roll. Before attempting to take-off, the pilot walked along the length of the strip to inspect its condition. He assessed the strip as suitable for his operation. There was a slight across-strip slope and during the back-track taxi for take-off, the pilot moved to the up-slope, left side of the strip where the surface appeared firmer. Whilst watching out the right side of the aircraft at the take-off path, the left wing hit a small tree. He did not see the tree prior to the impact.