NTSB can’t ID which pilot caused fatal copter crash
LANTANA — The National Transportation Safety Board faults a helicopter pilot for causing a December 2014 fatal crash near the Lantana airport, but the agency couldn’t determine which pilot — the instructor or his student — made the critical mistake.
The December 2014 crash killed instructor Luis Aviles, 34, who the NTSB faults for a “delayed remedial action” in trying to stop the helicopter from plummeting through the sky. The report doesn’t conclude whether Aviles or his student caused the main rotor stall that directly caused the crash near the airport, formally known as Palm Beach County Park Airport.
The crash also seriously i nj ure d s t udent Jonat han Desouza, then 25, who told investigators Aviles may have been using a video chat program with a woman before the crash. Desouza and Aviles were trying to practice an autorotation, a way of land- See video of the helicopter crash at video. ing the helicopter without using engine power.
The NTSB said the manual for the flight school, identified in court records as Palm Beach Helicopters, called for the engine power to be cut back to idle, which increased the chances that the engine would not come back to full power if it was needed. Without a rotor spinning fast enough to generate lift, the helicopter cannot stay in the air. The manufacturer said pilots should back off the throttle a little to ensure the engine can quickly come back to full power.
The NTSB said that “based on conflicting statements from the student, it could not be determined who was controlling the helicopter during the entry into and throughout the autorotation before about 100 (feet).” That meant it wasn’t clear which pilot had the controls before the criti- cal mistake was made. Without enough engine power, the rotors stalled and the Robinson R22 crashed, the NTSB said.
A witness, another flight i n s t r u c t o r i n a d i f f e r e n t helicopter, saw Aviles and Desouza appear to level off about 500 feet above ground before pitching abruptly forward and plunging toward the ground.
About 100 feet above the ground, Aviles said, “We’re go i ng d own. We’re go i ng down.”
Desouz a tol d i nve s t i g a - tors he couldn’t remember whether he or Aviles had started the autorotation.
Desouza sued Palm Beach Helicopters and Aviles’ estate several months after the crash, claiming he’d been improperly trained and Aviles was improperly supervising the helicopter.
The lawsuit was settled later in 2015, court documents show. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.