LAX94LA226 · Parker ROTORWAY EXEC 90 ROTORWAY E
Parker ROTORWAY EXEC 90 ROTORWAY E · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From French Valley Airport (F70) to F70
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX94LA226
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Parker ROTORWAY EXEC 90 ROTORWAY E
- Aircraft type
- Parker ROTORWAY EXEC 90
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N78435
- Operator
- Zane T. Parker · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From French Valley Airport (F70), FRENCH VALLEY, CATo F70
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Fuel exhaustion; Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, improper
- Pilot in command › Autorotation, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, improper
- Pilot in command › Inadequate transition/upgrade training
- Pilot in command › Lack of total experience in kind of aircraft
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WITNESSES SAID THE PILOT MADE SEVERAL LOW PASSES AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 200', THEN DEPARTED THE AREA & FLEW UP A CANYON AT LOW ALTITUDE. THE HELICOPTER THEN DESCENDED RAPIDLY TO THE GROUND & CONTACTED A TREE DURING THE DESCENT. DURING AN INVESTIGATION, CONTROL & FUEL SYSTEM CONTINUITY WAS ESTABLISHED THROUGHOUT THE HELICOPTER. THE FUEL TANK WAS UNDAMAGED & NO EVIDENCE OF POST-IMPACT FUEL LEAKAGE WAS NOTED. ONLY RESIDUAL FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE TANK. THE PILOT DID NOT HAVE A ROTORCRAFT RATING. HIS INSTRUCTOR (CFI) SAID HE HAD GIVEN THE PILOT ABOUT 24 HRS OF DUAL TRAINING IN THE ACCIDENT HELICOPTER DURING FEBRUARY 1994. THE CFI FURTHER STATED THAT HE HAD ONLY ENDORSED THE PILOT FOR LIMITED HOVERING SOLO FLIGHTS. THE PILOT HAD BEEN GIVEN ONLY ONE INTRODUCTORY LESSON IN AUTOROTATION (TO A POWER RECOVERY). THE CFI SAID THE FUEL GAGE WAS INACCURATE. HE ADVISED THE PILOT TO USE A DIPSTICK TO MEASURE FUEL BEFORE EACH FLIGHT & TO USE A CLOCK TO MONITOR FUEL REMAINING. HE ALSO NOTED THE STUDENT TENDED TO ADD ONLY THE FUEL NEEDED FOR A PARTICULAR FLIGHT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S IMPROPER PREFLIGHT AND MISCALCULATION OF REMAINING FUEL, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION, AND IMPROPER AUTOROTATION, DUE TO INADEQUATE TRANSITION/UPGRADE TRAINING AND LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH HELICOPTERS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX94LA226
- Event ID
- 20001206X01330
- Case number
- LAX94LA226
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 86d5a361e7fb2510adf4ffddfc3b657d4c51ff2786592b2e2dd84e919deab6fe; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:08:40.339Z.