LAX92LA237 · Bell 222
Rogers Helicopters Bell 222 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb
From No airport to Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA237
- 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
- 0 · 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
Bell 222
- Aircraft type
- Bell 222
- 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
- N5007L
- Operator
- Rogers Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From No airportTo Fresno Yosemite International Airport (FAT), Fresno, CA
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, intentional
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STARTED THE HELICOPTER'S ENGINES ON AN INTENDED FLIGHT PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT. A FIREMAN SAW SPARKS COMING FROM THE RIGHT ENGINE AND NOTIFIED THE PILOT. IN HIS WRITTEN STATEMENT THE PILOT SAID HE SHUT THE ENGINES DOWN AND CANCELLED THE FLIGHT. A MEDICAL CREW MEMBER ABOARD THE HELICOPTER SAID HE SAW SPARKS COMING FROM THE ENGINE EXHAUST AND NOTICED THE ENGINE TEMPERATURE 'READING WELL ABOVE NORMAL.' HE ALSO SAID HE SAW THE ENGINE'S CHIP DETECTOR LIGHT ILLUMINATE. HE SAID THE PILOT 'PLAYED WITH THE THROTTLES A LITTLE BIT TO TRY TO GET THE TEMPERATURE UNDER CONTROL.' THE PILOT SHUT THE ENGINES DOWN AND THE NON-FLYING CREW MEMBERS RETURNED TO THEIR HOME BASE VIA GROUND TRANSPORTATION. THE NEXT MORNING THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO FERRY THE AIRCRAFT WITH ONE ENGINE. THE PILOT STARTED THE RIGHT ENGINE AND PERFORMED A TAKEOFF WITH BOTH ENGINES RUNNING. AFTER TAKEOFF, THE RIGHT ENGINE'S TEMPERATURE ROSE AND THE PILOT SHUT THE ENGINE DOWN. THE HELICOPTER COULD NOT FLY ADEQUATELY WITH THE POWER FROM THE LEFT ENGINE AND ALTITUDE COULD NOT BE MAINTAINED. THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH A TREE AND THEN THE GROUND. EXAMINATION OF THE RIGHT ENGINE REVEALED EXTENSIVE HEAT DAMAGE TO THE GAS PRODUCER TURBINE WHEEL WITH 20-30% DETERIORATION OF ALL BLADES.
Probable cause
THE PILOT DECISION TO TAKEOFF AND FLY WITH A KNOWN DEFICIENCY IN ONE OF THE HELICOPTER'S ENGINES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA237
- Event ID
- 20001211X14899
- Case number
- LAX92LA237
- 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: 4eac875539d86c1063ddb77541a71775aaf8535dd019daf805215de80b806346; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:15:56.871Z.