NYC99FA157 · Robinson R-22
Robinson R-22 · Accident: loss of engine power en route
From No airport to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC99FA157
- 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 R-22
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R-22
- 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
- N9070F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From No airportTo 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 · descent
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A witness observed the helicopter at approximately 200 feet above ground level (AGL) and then descend to approximately 60 feet AGL. The witness stated that the helicopter was making a 'popping noise,' and wobbling back and forth, and side to side for about 30 seconds. The witness also stated that he could see the helicopter's main rotor blades slowing down. The helicopter then 'nose dived' towards the ground. The helicopter impacted in a dry creek bed and came to rest on it's left side. One main rotor bladed was found curved upward and contained blue and white paint transfer. It should be noted that the helicopter tail boom is painted blue and white. A 12,000 volt electrical wire system was located approximately 37 feet above the main wreckage and one of the wires had been severed. The helicopter had been operated for about 1 hour since an annual inspection had been performed 5 days prior to the accident; about 70 hours since December 1994; and about 2,070 hours since it was last overhauled in 1992. The helicopter was fueled with automotive gasoline. A supplemental type certificate (STC) for the use of automotive gasoline for the accident helicopter was available; however, examination of the helicopter's maintenance records did not reveal that an STC had been obtained for the use of automotive gasoline. The engine was test run and it operated satisfactorily. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any pre-impact malfunctions of the airframe or engine. Review of the FAA 'Carburetor Icing Probability Chart' placed the reported temperature and dewpoint in the 'serious icing at glide power' area. Additionally, examination of the engine low oil pressure light bulb filament from the annunciator panel revealed some elongation of the filament.
Probable cause
A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain rotor rpm and the transmission wires.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC99FA157
- Event ID
- 20001212X19085
- Case number
- NYC99FA157
- 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: 58112d3782caf38d4c45443f220199a91508c10c20854e9b5bf49df53ad17bfe; retrieved 2026-09-20T22:02:39.909Z.