Bell 505 crash near Marianna, FL, United States

On August 23, 2024, about 1130 eastern standard time, a Bell Textron Canada 505, N945TC, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Marianna, Florida. The student pilot and the flight instructor were uninjured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulation Part 91 instructional flight. During an instructional flight, the student pilot was performing a practice autorotation at the Marianna Municipal Airport (MAI), Marianna, Florida. The flight instructor reported that the student pilot initiated the landing flare about 80 ft above ground level with a “good nose up pitch to bleed airspeed without any aggressive rotor buildup.” As the helicopter began to settle, the student pilot applied increased collective with some forward nose cyclic for a level landing. Both pilots reported that the landing on the runway was soft and there was no bounce or drift. As the helicopter continued to slide down the runway, the helicopter began to bounce and shake “violently.” A postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed that it had sustained substantial damage to the tail boom.