- Date
- September 23, 1991, 21:00 local (Sep 24, 1991, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Point Judith, RI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N950CWRobinson R-22
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 3, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910923043729A
- Case key
- 37027
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
The pilot become disoriented and lost control of the helicopter. Contributing to the accident was a dark night, flight over water, and the pilot's lack of total flight experience.
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 pilot departed block island, rhode island, on a dark night and was reported missing when he did not arrive at farmingdale, new york. A search was initiated, but the pilot and helicopter were not found. The tail section of the helicopter was recovered by the coast guard on December, 8, 1991. The pilot had approximately 100 hours total flight time.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N950CW
- Reported as
- Robinson R-22
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1637
- Airframe hours
- 890
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-B2C, 131 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- Unknown
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Coastline Helicopters
- Registered owner
- Medicopter, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 21, 1991 · 90 hours before
- Departed
- BID · Block Island, RI
- Destination
- FRG · Farmingdale, NY
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 100 total · 100 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.