LAX89LA115 · Robinson R22
Skyline Helicopters Robinson R22 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object during takeoff
From Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX89LA115
- 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
Robinson R22
- 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
- N9076K
- Operator
- Skyline Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), Oakland, 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- 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
- Airport personnel › Other airport/runway maintenance, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PVT PLT & HIS INSTRUCTOR (CFI) DEPARTED OAKLAND ON A VFR INSTRUCTIONAL FLT TO HAYWARD IN A ROBINSON R22 HELICOPTER. THEY LANDED ON TAXIWAY (TWY) 2, THEN TOOK OFF FOR ANOTHER TRAFFIC PATTERN & LANDING. THE CFI THEN INSTRUCTED THE PVT PLT TO MAKE A RUNNING TAKEOFF. DRG THE TAKEOFF GROUND RUN, THE HELICOPTER'S LEFT SKID STRUCK AN ALIGNMENT DEVICE WHICH WAS PROTRUDING ABOVE THE TWY SURFACE. AFTER HITTING THE DEVICE, THE HELICOPTER ENTERED A VIOLENT LEFT YAW & BECAME AIRBORNE. THE CFI WAS ABLE TO ARREST THE YAW, BUT HE COULD NOT STOP A RAPID DESCENT THAT DEVELOPED. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE HELICOPTER'S UNDERCARRIAGE, VERTICAL STABILIZER, RIGHT DOOR & FUSELAGE SKIN WERE DAMAGED. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT CONTRACTORS HAD RECENTLY PAINTED THE TWY & HAD LEFT THE ALIGNMENT DEVICE PROTRUDING ABOUT 1/2 INCH ABOVE THE SURFACE OF THE TWY.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF AIRPORT PERSONNEL TO ASSURE THE TAIWAY WAS FREE OF OBJECTS AFTER THE TAXIWAY WAS PAINTED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX89LA115
- Event ID
- 20001213X27752
- Case number
- LAX89LA115
- 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: 007cad9d109f506decdeb0e3b0001bbdc619022b8b252cc934e35d1e4ff608c5; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:51:48.525Z.