LAX93FA281 · Robinson R22B
Robinson R22B · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From an unrecorded airport to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93FA281
- 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
Robinson R22B
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R22
- 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
- N501R
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
- 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 · hover
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Flight instructor(on ground) › Supervision, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER COMPLETING A PERIOD OF DUAL, THE CFI SAID HE FELT THE STUDENT WAS READY FOR HIS FIRST SUPERVISED SOLO, AND HE EXITED THE AIRPLANE AFTER INSTRUCTING THE STUDENT TO COMPLETE 3 TAKEOFF, APPROACH TO A HOVER, & LANDING MANEUVERS. DURING THE 3RD LANDING MANEUVER THE HELICOPTER BEGAN ROTATING, THEN DESCENDED RAPIDLY AND IMPACTED THE GROUND. THE STUDENT HAD RECEIVED 21 HRS OF HELICOPTER DUAL INSTRUCTION, FROM 3 DIFFERENT INSTRUCTORS, DURING 15 LESSONS. ALL 3 INSTRUCTORS USED THE ROBINSON FLIGHT TRAINING GUIDE AS A SYLLABUS; THE GUIDE STATES 'UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE STUDENTS PERMITTED TO FLY SOLO IN WINDS IN EXCESS OF 15 KNOTS.' THE PERFORMANCE SECTION OF THE PILOT OPERATOR HANBOOK STATES THAT CONTROLLABILITY HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED FOR CROSSWINDS AND TAILWINDS UP TO 17 KNOTS. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT THE TOWER WAS REPORTING RAIN SHOWERS NORTHEAST; PERIODIC WIND GUSTS TO 25 KTS WERE ALSO REPORTED DURING THE TIME OF THE FLIGHT. A LLWAS WIND SENSOR NEAR THE ACCIDENT SITE WAS REPORTING AVERAGE SPEEDS OF 15-18 KTS.
Probable cause
THE INSTRUCTOR ALLOWING THE STUDENT FLY SOLO IN WIND CONDITIONS EXCEEDING THE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE WINDS IN THE TRAINING SYLLABUS, AND ALSO NEAR THE MAXIMUM DEMONSTRATED CONTROLLABILITY ENVELOPE FOR THE HELICOPTER. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE THE UNFAVORABLE WIND CONDITIONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93FA281
- Event ID
- 20001211X12932
- Case number
- LAX93FA281
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1993-07-08.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 99db80e6c8aa8d8dfc0f4ef64770e9d5370a58bb290a26d3cb81691459c8de0c; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:28:47.943Z.