LAX85FJA02 · Robinson R-22
Robinson R-22 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Hilo International Airport (ITO) to Hilo International Airport (ITO)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX85FJA02
- 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 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
- N8447C
- Operator
- Thomas M. Pace · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hilo International Airport (ITO), HITo Hilo International Airport (ITO), HI
- 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
- Maneuvering · hover
- 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 › Lack of total experience in kind of aircraft
- Pilot in command › Maneuver, uncontrolled
- Pilot in command › Performance data, not understood
- Pilot in command › Rotorcraft flight controls, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT ROLLED ONTO ITS LEFT SIDE WITHIN 10 FT OF WHERE IT WAS PARKED PRIOR TO FLT, THE PLT WAS ATTEMPTING TO COME TO A HOVER WHEN IT ROLLED. THIS WAS THE PLTS 2ND ATTEMPT AT SOLO FLT IN THE HELICOPTER. NO MECHANICAL MALFUNCTIONS WERE NOTED DURING THE POST ACCIDENT EXAM. THE GROUND SCARS WERE CONSISTANT WITH DYNAMIC ROLL OVER CHARACTERISTICS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX85FJA02
- Event ID
- 20001214X36220
- Case number
- LAX85FJA02
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-04-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: b020e13f3a8f0f9f031ff37973b05ad9b815ed9d2e8dc7c910cfc27e50888c1f; retrieved 2026-09-23T17:52:14.580Z.