NTSB Identification: CEN12LA230
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, April 05, 2012 in Isabel, SD
Aircraft: ROBINSON HELICOPTER R22 BETA, registration: N104MH
Injuries: 1 Serious,1 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On April 5, 2012, about 0700 mountain daylight time, a Robinson R22 Beta helicopter, N104MH, impacted terrain while maneuvering at low altitude near Isabel, South Dakota. The commercial pilot was seriously injured and the non-pilot passenger was not injured. The helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to and operated by the pilot, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, as a coyote hunting flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight departed Timber Lake Municipal Airport (D58), Timber Lake, South Dakota about 0630 for the local flight.

According to the commercial pilot he was southbound about 50 feet above ground level (AGL) and he remembered that the surface wind was out of the southeast. The helicopter was flying about 50 to 70 knots when he made a sudden right turn to the west to intercept a coyote when he felt a loss of engine power and heard a “low rotor horn”. He immediately “dumped the collective”; the helicopter impacted trees and terrain and rolled on its right side.

After the crash both occupants were able to extract themselves from the wreckage unassisted. The helicopter was not equipped with an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) or any other type of emergency location reporting device. The injured commercial pilot stayed with the wreckage while the passenger walked several miles in the remote rural area to a residence to make a telephone call to 9-1-1 emergency.

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