LAX93LA288 · Robinson R22B
J. D. Helicopters Robinson R22B · Accident: in flight collision with object en route
From Auburn Municipal Airport (AUN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93LA288
- 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
- 2 · 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
- N531JD
- Operator
- J. D. Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Auburn Municipal Airport (AUN), Auburn, CATo not recorded
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Wire, transmission
- 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
- Dual student › Visual lookout, inadequate
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE CRUISING THROUGH A GORGE OVER THE NORTH FORK OF THE AMERICAN RIVER, THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH CHARTED TRANSMISSION WIRES ABOUT 550 FT ABOVE THE RIVER, AND THE HELICOPTER CRASHED INTO THE RIVER. A HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICER REPORTED THAT THE SUPPORTING (WOOD) POLES WERE PARTIALLY HIDDEN FROM VIEW BY NATIVE VEGETATION, AND THE WIRES WERE NOT PARTICULARLY VISIBLE. THE COLLISION OCCURRED ABOUT MID-SPAN BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINSIDE POLES WHICH WERE LOCATED ABOUT 2,274 FT APART. SEVEN YEARS EARLIER AT THE SAME LOCATION, ANOTHER HELICOPTER HAD COLLIDED WITH THE WIRES AND CRASHED INTO THE RIVER. FOLLOWING THAT ACCIDENT THE UTILITY COMPANY DID NOT TAKE ANY ACTION TO INCREASE THE CONSPICUITY OF THE WIRES/POLES.
Probable cause
THE FAILURE OF BOTH PILOTS TO SEE AND AVOID THE CHARTED POWER LINE. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE FAILURE OF THE UTILITY COMPANIES TO ADEQUATELY REVIEW THE HAZARD POSED BY THE WIRES FOLLOWING A PREVIOUS COLLISION AT THE SAME LOCATION, AND PILOT'S COMPROMISED ABILITY TO DETECT THE WIRES DUE TO THEIR LACK OF CONSPICUITY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93LA288
- Event ID
- 20001211X12950
- Case number
- LAX93LA288
- 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: 3faf4835028aecf05c08d628c85106097744fff9d9dfec0c104128d6f9849614; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:28:23.466Z.