Midair Collision: Piper Cherokee vs. Robinson R22 Helicopter (Florida, 2017) HD

On September 23, 2017, about 5:15 PM eastern daylight time, a single-engine Piper PA-28R-201 airplane, N1881H, and a Robinson R22 helicopter, N404TB, were substantially damaged when they collided in mid-air over the runway at the Clearwater Air Park (“CLW”), Clearwater, Florida. The private rated pilot, the sole occupant onboard N1881H, received minor injuries, and the flight instructor and pilot-rated student onboard N404TB were not injured. Both aircraft were owned and operated by Tampa Bay Aviation. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. Both flights were operated as personal flights, and no flight plans had been filed. Both aircraft were operating in the traffic pattern at the time of the accident. According to the flight instructor, the purpose of the flight was flight review of the pilot-rated student. He indicated that he had never previously flown with the student pilot, but during the flight both were wearing headsets. The student pilot proceeded to the hover practice area and executed multiple practice maneuvers. All radio calls were made during every turn while in the airport traffic pattern. The instructor performed all radio calls at each leg of the airport traffic pattern during the first approach; while the pilot-rated student made the radio calls at each leg of the airport traffic pattern during the second takeoff, and approach to the runway. In addition, prior to every turn they scanned in all directions for traffic. While on a final approach, the instructor noticed a fixed-wing airplane on the base leg of the airport traffic pattern for runway 16, and he announced on the common traffic advisory frequency that they were using runway 34. They heard the pilot of the fixed-wing airplane say something that was not legible and then observed the airplane veer away, flying to the west. The instructor then allowed the student to continue the approach to runway 34, which terminated with a hover, touchdown, and then liftoff. The flight returned to the crosswind leg of the airport traffic pattern where then turned onto base leg of the airport traffic pattern for runway 34. When the flight was 1 mile from the runway, the student pilot turned onto final approach to the airport traffic pattern for runway 34 and executed a steep approach. The instructor told the student to extend the flight path to the segmented circle. The helicopter came to a hover over runway 34 about 15 ft., when he heard a loud sound, and felt the helicopter being pushed forward. The helicopter then began to spin, and impacted the ground hard and came to rest upright. According to the pilot of the airplane, he stated that between his first and second transmission he heard some heavy buzzing sound like a helicopter rotor with the words "34" barely distinguishable. The pilot did a scan for air traffic and declared being on downwind with "Clearwater traffic." The pilot quickly turned to base and decreased the engine power to descend. He st