# NTSB CEN26FA015: Bell 222, N222EX, Huntington Beach, CA, October 11, 2025

- Type: NTSB accident investigation
- Classification: Accident · Serious injuries · Class 3 · Field · Preliminary report
- Date: October 11, 2025, 14:01 local (21:01 UTC)
- Place: Huntington Beach, CA
- Coordinates: 33.650628, -117.99198
- Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=33.6506&lon=-117.9920&mi=10
- Phase of flight: [Landing](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/550) (OpenAirDocs' grouping)
- Defining event: [Landing: Sys/Comp malf/fail (non-power)](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/330)
- Highest injury: Serious injuries
- Injuries: 3 serious, 2 minor; on the ground: 1 serious, 2 minor
- Status: Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class: Class 3
- NTSB office: Central Region
- Parties: FAA
- NTSB case key (mKey): 201834
- NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=CEN26FA015
- NTSB preliminary report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/201834/pdf
- Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CEN26FA015

## Preliminary report

On October 11, 2025, at 1401 Pacific daylight time, a Bell 222 helicopter, N222EX, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Huntington Beach, California. The pilot and passenger received serious injuries. One person on the ground received serious injuries and two others received minor injuries. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that he and the passenger departed from Redlands, California, and intended to land in a Huntington Beach parking lot for a large public event. The pilot approached Huntington Beach from north, then circled for a high-speed pass above Pacific Coast Highway headed northwest. The pilot circled again and completed a slow pass above the highway, then approached the parking lot from southeast. As the helicopter descended above the parking lot, he made a small right pedal input to straighten the helicopter, then the nose veered left, and he heard a loud noise from the back left side. The pilot turned right and increased the power to fly away from the confined landing area. As the right turn rate increased, the pilot was unable to maintain control of the helicopter. Witness photos and videos revealed that during the high-speed pass, there were no apparent anomalies with the helicopter. During the slow pass, one of the tail rotor pitch links was disconnected from a tail rotor blade. As the helicopter approached the parking lot for landing, the pitch link remained disconnected (see figure 1). Figure 1. The accident helicopter before landing. A red callout shows a zoomed in view of the tail rotor assembly and a disconnected pitch link. The helicopter turned right and ascended as pieces of the tail rotor assembly began to separate. The tail rotor gearbox separated in half and the output side remained attached to the tail rotor assembly, then landed in the parking lot. The helicopter continued to spin right then impacted a staircase at the end of a pedestrian bridge. Postaccident examination of the separated tail rotor assembly revealed that both pitch horns were fractured in half. All pitch horn bolts and associated hardware remained installed and secure. The helicopter was retained for further examination.

## Sequence of events

The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event best describes what happened.

- [Landing: Sys/Comp malf/fail (non-power)](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/330) (defining event); cases with it: [Bell 222, 1 case](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/330/sequence.md?model=1182122), [All aircraft, 994 cases](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-events/330/sequence.md)

## Aircraft

- Registration: [N222EX](https://openairdocs.org/aircraft/N222EX), registered now, S/N 47043, built 1980 (OpenAirDocs)
- Reported make and model: BELL 222
- Registry model: [Bell 222](https://openairdocs.org/model/bell-222) (registry code 1182122) (OpenAirDocs)
- Registry engine: [Rolls-Royce 250-C30G](https://openairdocs.org/engine/rolls-royce-250-c30g) (registry code 54016, turbo-shaft) (OpenAirDocs)
- Category: Helicopter
- Serial number: 47043
- Year built: 1980
- Airframe hours: 1882.1
- Damage: Substantial damage
- Flight: Personal, Part 91
- Registered owner: Nixon Eric J
- Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal
- Last inspection: 100 hour, December 20, 2024
- Departed: KREI, Redlands, CA
- Destination: Same as departure
- Flight plan: VFR
- Equipment: Auto-pilot, ADS-B

## Weather

- Conditions: Visual (VMC), Day
- Wind: 200° at 10 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Temperature: 73 °F, dew point 59 °F
- Altimeter: 29.77 inHg
- Observed at: KSNA, 6 nm away
- METAR: METAR KSNA 112053Z 20010KT 10SM FEW018 23/15 A2977 RMK AO2 SLP079 T02330150 58015=

From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.

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