- Date
- May 4, 1992, 13:25 local (20:25 UTC)
- Place
- Sun Valley, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4081PRobinson R-22B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 13, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920504013249A
- Case key
- 27615
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
1) Fuel exhaustion due to improper preflight planning by the CFI and his failure to refuel the aircraft prior to departure on the accident flight, and 2) the cfi's misjudgement of the landing flare timing during the auto rotation.
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 instructor pilot said that he had flown the helicopter on the flight prior to the accident session for about 1.2 hours. The helicopter began that flight with full fuel tanks and it was not refueled after landing. The instructor stated that he performed the preflight inspection with the student on the accident flight and visually looked inside the fuel tank and determined that about one hour and forty minutes of fuel was on board. He said that he did not use a measuring device to quantify the amount of fuel in the tank, but rather visually estimated that the amount he observed matched the fuel gage. After departure from burbank the flight proceeded to the local practice area where the one hour dual student was given a lesson on primary flight maneuvers. The flight was on approach to the burbank airport after one hour and twelve minutes when the low fuel level warning light illuminated. The instructor noted that the engine quit immediately thereafter and he executed an auto rotation to a city park. The helicopter landed hard, bending the tail boom. No fuel was found in the tank after the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4081P
- Reported as
- Robinson R-22B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1786
- Airframe hours
- 517
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Complete Aviation Services, doing business as Cas, USA
- Registered owner
- Briles Wing & Helicopter, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 1, 1992 · 17 hours before
- Departed
- BUR · Burbank, 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
- 26
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 560 total · 550 in this make and model · 490 as pilot in command · 6 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N4081P · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.