- Date
- February 10, 1990, 14:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lake Charles, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N850JRC&J Sontheimer Rotorway
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 10, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900210001939A
- Case key
- 22979
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Failure of the tail rotor drive belt.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
After the helicopter leveled off for cruise, the tail rotor drive belt failed. The pilot said it started to spin out of control, but that he was able to regain control with the a 1,500 fpm rate of descent. He said that each time he tried to increase the main rotor RPM, the helicopter would spin again. As the helicopter approached ground level, he added power and increased the collective, and the helicopter started to spin, so he chopped power to slow the spin, and then lowered the collective. At touchdown, the helicopter rolled over on its side.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N850JR
- Reported as
- C&J Sontheimer Rotorway
- Category
- Helicopter, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 3122
- Airframe hours
- 190
- Engine
- Rotorway RW152D, 152 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Phillip A. Guzzino
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 15, 1989 · 47 hours before
- Departed
- NONE · Iowa, LA
- Destination
- NONE · Lake Charles, LA
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 209 total · 154 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LCH, 117 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.