LAX91LA351 · Texas Helicopter M74L
Sierra Helicopter Services Texas Helicopter M74L · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX91LA351
- 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
Texas Helicopter M74L
- Aircraft type
- Texas M74
- 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
- N51855
- Operator
- Sierra Helicopter Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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 137: Agricultural
- 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
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Lodi, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
IN HIS WRITTEN STATEMENT, THE PILOT SAID THAT SHORTLY AFTER LIFTOFF HE HEARD A LOUD BANG AND 'ALL DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WITH THE CYCLIC WAS LOST.' HE NOTED THAT THE HELICOPTER PITCHED SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT AND IMPACTED IN A CORN FIELD. THE HELICOPTER WAS EXAMINED IN DETAIL BY AN FAA AIRWORTHINESS INSPECTOR FROM THE OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, FLIGHT STANDARDS DISTRICT OFFICE. ACCORDING TO THE INSPECTORS REPORT, HE IDENTIFIED NO MECHANICAL PROBLEMS WITH THE ENGINE, DRIVE TRAIN OR CONTROL SYSTEM. FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE TANKS, LINES AND THE CARBURETOR. HE SAID THAT HE FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF A SPRAY BOOM OR ROTOR BLADE STRIKE PRIOR TO GROUND IMPACT. THE INSPECTOR NOTED THAT THE GROUND CONTRACT MARKS WERE CONSISTENT WITH A NEARLY LEVEL ATTITUDE GROUND IMPACT, WITH ABOUT 70 FEET OF STRAIGHT GROUND SCARS.
Probable cause
THE INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL BY THE PILOT FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX91LA351
- Event ID
- 20001212X17895
- Case number
- LAX91LA351
- 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: 3a6549c5be1ecba188d13b0ab8ecf45493efb7d9fd4c7e35f100e657761be831; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:29:20.358Z.