Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 2, 2012, about 1135 mountain daylight time, a Schweizer 269C helicopter, N2196F, entered ground resonance when it set down on the ramp at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC), near Denver, Colorado. The commercial pilot and the passenger were uninjured. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to its tail boom during the ground resonance. The helicopter was registered to Top Flight Rotors LLC and operated by TYJ Global under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on a company VFR flight plan. The local flight was originating from BJC at the time of the accident.

The pilot reported that the flight was an introductory discovery flight for his student passenger. The pilot indicated that he picked the helicopter up into a two-foot skid height hover. An airplane started to taxi in front of the helicopter. The pilot, in part, stated:


To avoid my downwash disturbing the airplane, or his prop wash from
disturbing me, I set the helicopter back onto the ground as a courtesy. I
set down the left skid first and then the right, utilizing a two point touch
down. When the right skid made contact, the helicopter tried to drift to
the right. I put slight left cyclic input in to keep the helicopter from
drifting to the right as I lowered collective. As I lowered the collective fully
and the skids started to settle apart, I noticed a slight low frequency
vibration. Immediately, the vibration got worse, and I determined the
helicopter was in the beginning phase of ground resonance. My engine
RPM was too low, as was my collective, to pick the helicopter up off the
ground to restore the rotor blades to their correct phase in time. With
the collective full down, I rolled the throttle to idle to try and get rid of
ground resonance. Within seconds, the helicopter had shaken itself apart. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot held a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) commercial pilot certificate with rotorcraft helicopter and instrument helicopter ratings. He also held a Flight Instructor certificate with rotorcraft helicopter and instrument helicopter ratings. The pilot was issued a second-class FAA airman medical certificate, which listed no limitations, on January 3, 2012. The operator reported that the pilot had accumulated 259 hours of total flight time and 212 hours of flight time in the same make and model as the accident helicopter. AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONN2196F, was a 1994 Schweizer 269C helicopter with serial number S1647. The helicopter was equipped with fixed skids for landing gear and was configured for two occupants. The helicopter was powered by a direct drive, horizontally opposed, fuel injected, air-cooled, four-cylinder engine. The engine was a Lycoming HIO-360-D1A, serial number L-26088-51A, and was driving a three-blade main rotor assembly.

The maintenance records noted that the fr