Mcdonnell Douglas MD 902 accident near Aurora, Colorado, January 11, 2002
On January 11, 2002 at about 3:40 pm local time, a Mcdonnell Douglas MD 902 (helicopter), registered N902AM, was substantially damaged in an accident near Aurora, Colorado. It was an instructional flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 3 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control due to inadvertent settling with power resulting in a hard landing. Contributing factors include the improperly planned approach, the high density altitude, and the encounter with vortex ring state.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made September 29, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- January 11, 2002 · about 3:40 pm local time
- Place
- Aurora, Colorado · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 3 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Mcdonnell Douglas MD 902
- Registration
- N902AM · registry record · serial 900-00092
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
An instructor pilot was conducting transition training and was demonstrating emergency procedures on anti-torque malfunctions and loss of thrust/fixed pedal settings. After reaching a final approach position at approximately 100 feet agl, he began to demonstrate how to complete an approach with an "Anti-Torque Failure - Fixed Thruster Setting." He established the helicopter on a "shallow" approach angle with a deceleration attitude of approximately 15 to 20 degrees nose up and approximately 300 feet per minute rate of descent. The flight profile "appeared normal" until about 50 to 60 feet above ground level when the helicopter started to descend at a higher than desired rate for demonstration. The pilot applied collective lever control and a shudder was felt in the rotor system, followed by an increase in descent rate. Collective lever application could not arrest the descent. The helicopter struck the ground hard in a nose high attitude, ballooned into the air approximately 3 to 5 feet and slowly rotated approximately 360 degrees. The "thruster" was jammed in the neutral position, but he had no problem landing the helicopter from a hover with power. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the Notar Anti-Torque rotating thruster cone, the aft cross tube, and both landing gear skids.
The NTSB's narratives can run to many pages; this is the opening. Read the full report at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database and is rewritten in plain English only where the NTSB used codes; the probable cause and narrative are the NTSB's own words. This site never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number DEN02LA019.