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AA5 pilot with instructor reports momentary loss of control at 50 feet AGL caused by rotor wash from a helicopter landing on the parallel taxiway. The helicopter and a building are narrowly avoided as control is regained and a go-around is initiated.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1175502 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201405 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cheetah Tiger Traveler AA5 Series |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach Landing |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Trainee Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 19 Flight Crew Total 135 Flight Crew Type 135 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control |
Narrative:
While flying as pilot in command; closed traffic with a CFI. I was cleared for touch-and-go and warned of rotor wash. At the same time ATC cleared a helicopter to land on the taxiway right next to us. We got hit by the rotor wash. It threw us at the ground in a hard left 45 degree bank. It took the CFI and me both to recover without hitting the ground; a building; and the helicopter. I had the helicopter in sight at the time of the incident. It was parallel to us only a few feet lower. Left wing (my side) missed the ground by about 10 feet. We managed to recover; but it took both of us fighting the yoke to level the wings. I put full throttle; the CFI lowered the nose. We just missed the helicopter. I put the flaps in and we cleared the two story building by just a few feet and climbed out reporting the go-around to ATC. The situation was caused by ATC landing the helicopter on a taxiway about 20 feet from the runway center line where we were less than 50 feet AGL in the same location. We had no warning of the taxiway landing as helicopters [use a different tower frequency].
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: AA5 pilot with instructor reports momentary loss of control at 50 feet AGL caused by rotor wash from a helicopter landing on the parallel taxiway. The helicopter and a building are narrowly avoided as control is regained and a go-around is initiated.
Narrative: While flying as pilot in command; closed traffic with a CFI. I was cleared for touch-and-go and warned of rotor wash. At the same time ATC cleared a helicopter to land on the taxiway right next to us. We got hit by the rotor wash. It threw us at the ground in a hard left 45 degree bank. It took the CFI and me both to recover without hitting the ground; a building; and the helicopter. I had the helicopter in sight at the time of the incident. It was parallel to us only a few feet lower. Left wing (my side) missed the ground by about 10 feet. We managed to recover; but it took both of us fighting the yoke to level the wings. I put full throttle; the CFI lowered the nose. We just missed the helicopter. I put the flaps in and we cleared the two story building by just a few feet and climbed out reporting the go-around to ATC. The situation was caused by ATC landing the helicopter on a taxiway about 20 feet from the runway center line where we were less than 50 feet AGL in the same location. We had no warning of the taxiway landing as helicopters [use a different Tower frequency].
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.