- Date
- September 30, 1992, 14:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Martinez, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8069XRobinson R22-B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920930039319A
- Case key
- 27454
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
An undetermined divergence of the main rotor from its normal plane of rotation which resulted in rotor contact to the fuselage and passenger.
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
The certificated flight instructor and a prospective student departed for a short helicopter demonstration flight in clear VFR conditions. Three minutes after departure, the helicopter was over-flying an urban park area, about 1 and 1/2 miles west of the departure airport. Witnesses heard popping, banging, and thumping noises. The engine then quit running. The main rotor departed its normal plane of rotation with sufficient RPM to contact the right front portion of the cockpit windshield and strike the right seat passenger. Main rotor RPM then immediately decayed and stopped. The helicopter was then observed in a steep nose down angle of descent until impacting the ground. No malfunction of the engine, drive train, or flight controls was found.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8069X
- Reported as
- Robinson R22-B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1364
- Airframe hours
- 2,793
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Helicopter Adventures Inc.
- Registered owner
- P. J. Mcclellan Ltd.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 25, 1992 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- CCR · Concord, CA
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
- 28
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 234 total · 234 in this make and model · 185 as pilot in command · 60 in the last 90 days · 53 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CCR, 2 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.