LAX93FA311 · Robinson R44
Robinson R44 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT) to San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93FA311
- 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
- 3 · 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 R44
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R44
- 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
- N445RH
- Operator
- Benjamin F. Venti, SR · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT)To San Gabriel Valley Airport (EMT)
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Rotorcraft flight control, cyclic control › Fatigue
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of El Monte, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT AND TWO PASSENGERS DEPARTED IN THE HELICOPTER FROM THE APPROACH END OF RUNWAY 19. WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE HELICOPTER ACCELERATED TO ABOUT 50 KNOTS AND CLIMBED TO BETWEEN 50 AND 100 FEET ABOVE THE RUNWAY. THEY SAID IT THEN SUDDENLY PITCHED DOWN, ROLLED TO THE RIGHT, AND CRASHED ON THE RUNWAY. AN EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE DISCLOSED THAT IT HAD IMPACTED IN ABOUT A 35 DEGREE NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE AND A 30 DEGREE RIGHT BANK. THE HELICOPTER WAS DESTROYED BY IMPACT AND POST IMPACT FIRE; MANY OF THE FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM COMPONENTS WERE FOUND FRACTURED AND/OR FIRE DAMAGED. THIS INCLUDED A FRACTURE AT THE LOWER END OF THE CYCLIC CONTROL (STICK) ASSEMBLY. METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION OF THIS FRACTURE REVEALED EVIDENCE OF FATIGUE. THE HELICOPTER, WHICH HAD BEEN CERTIFICATED IN DECEMBER 1992, HAD ACCUMULATED 174 HOURS OF FLIGHT TIME SINCE BEING MANUFACTURED.
Probable cause
FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE CYCLIC CONTROL (STICK) ASSEMBLY, WHICH RESULTED IN LOSS OF CYCLIC (PITCH & ROLL) CONTROL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93FA311
- Event ID
- 20001211X12937
- Case number
- LAX93FA311
- 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: 4e86916ea3ce7ac1594f56f782a22fcadb530726361547466cd4ead6cf5f22b7; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:26:33.594Z.