Accident to the Robinson R22 registered F-GXHC on 05/07/2022 at Bourg Ceyzériat

This is a courtesy translation by the BEA of the Final Report on the Safety Investigation. As accurate as the translation may be, the original text in French is the work of reference.

Note: the following information is principally based on statements made by the pilot. This information has not been independently validated by the BEA.

1. History of the flight

The pilot, alone on board, carried out a local flight. He entered hover in ground effect, on a rough heading of 360° and then flew five metres forward. He landed in the grass just long enough for a microlight to land on runway 36.

Once the runway was clear, he entered hover flight again, still on a heading of 360°. The pilot had difficulty keeping the helicopter stable and was unable to counter a right yaw. The pilot indicated that his left rudder input caused the helicopter to roll to the right.

Concerned that the helicopter might enter a dynamic roll-over[1], the pilot fully lowered the collective pitch lever. The helicopter came into hard contact with the ground, with a nose-up attitude.

2. Additional infomation

2.1. Site and damage information

The helicopter was resting on its skids near the take-off site. The tail skid and the lower section of the tail fin had sunk into the soft ground.

 The tail rotor driveshaft was broken. Several structural parts were deformed. The fin and the skids were damaged. The tail rotor blades were broken.

2.2. ​​​​Pilot information

The pilot held a helicopter private pilot licence (PPL(H)) issued in December 2021. He had logged 113 flight hours, including 20 hours as pilot-in-command, all on the Robinson R22. He had flown
six hours in the last 30 days.

In the morning of the accident flight, the pilot had completed a confined space training flight of over one hour with an instructor on F-GXHC. Neither the pilot nor the instructor had noted any abnormal behaviour of the helicopter.

The pilot believed that if he had been aware of the changing wind conditions, he would not have entered hover flight again. During his manoeuvres, the windsock was behind him; he did not have sight of it.

2.3. Meteorological information

The conditions observed at 14:00 at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, located 30 NM south of Bourg-en-Bresse, were as follows: wind 360° at 10 kt, variable from 320° to 040°, correct cloud cover and visibility, temperature 26°C, dew point 11°C, QNH 1022, no significant change in the next two hours.

Several pilots present at the aerodrome mentioned wind from 330° at 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 25 kt.