GAA17CA562 · Eurocopter AS 350 B2
Chaparral Air Group Eurocopter AS 350 B2 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Long Beach International Airport (LGB) to Fullerton Municipal Airport (FUL)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA17CA562
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Government
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Eurocopter AS 350 B2
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter AS-350
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N515ET
- Operator
- Chaparral Air Group
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Long Beach International Airport (LGB), Long Beach, CATo Fullerton Municipal Airport (FUL), Fullerton, CA
- Aircraft age
- About 16 years (built 2001)
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Public Aircraft
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering · low-altitude flying
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The check pilot reported that he was administering an annual standardization check ride in the public helicopter. The last maneuver evaluated was a hydraulic failure that would terminate by accomplishing a simulated run-on landing.
The maneuver was initiated when the evaluated pilot established an out-of-ground-effect (OGE) hover on the downwind leg of the pattern. The check pilot engaged the hydraulic test button on the center console to "simulate a hydraulic failure." The evaluated pilot lowered the nose and established forward airspeed to maintain controllability. He maintained stabilized forward flight on the downwind leg, and the check pilot disengaged the hydraulic test button. The check pilot moved the hydraulic cutoff switch to the "off" position, and the hydraulic system was disengaged. The evaluated pilot remained on the controls and established a shallow approach until about 3 ft above the runway.
Over the runway, the evaluated pilot allowed the helicopter's airspeed to decrease, and the check pilot stated, "Keep the speed up." The evaluated pilot responded by lowering the nose; however, an uncontrollable rapid left yaw ensued.
The check pilot took control of the helicopter and attempted to keep the helicopter over the runway, but the nose pitched down, and the main rotor blades struck the ground. The check pilot decreased the fuel control, and the helicopter settled upright on the runway.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the windscreen above the cabin, the tailboom, and tail rotor drive system.
The METAR at the accident airport reported that, at the time of the accident, the wind from 250° at 3 knots, the skies were clear, and the temperature was 72°F.
According to the Operator's Flight Manual:
In case of loss of hydraulic pressure, the recommended safety speed range is from 40 to 60 kt.
CAUTION:
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CARRY OUT HOVER FLIGHT OR ANY LOW SPEED MANEUVER WITHOUT HYDRAULIC PRESSURE ASSISTANCE. THE INTENSITY AND DIRECTION OF THE CONTROL FEEDBACK FORCES WILL CHANGE RAPIDLY. THIS WILL RESULT IN EXCESSIVE PILOT WORKLOAD, POOR AIRCRAFT CONTROL, AND POSSIBLE LOSS OF CONTROL.
Postaccident examination revealed no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot under evaluation’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed during a simulated hydraulic failure, which resulted in a loss of helicopter control. Contributing to the accident was the check pilot’s delayed remedial action.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA17CA562
- Event ID
- 20170927X35946
- Case number
- GAA17CA562
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 220a1f90eaf511eb5d0990826a37526ff228ec0520df33112a44d792a70a7a5c; retrieved 2026-09-16T05:53:37.613Z.