DEN83FA049 · Robinson R22
Robinson R22 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Grand Forks International Airport (GFK)
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN83FA049
- 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
- Instrument 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
- N9079B
- Operator
- Wayne L. Twitero · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Grand Forks International Airport (GFK), Grand Forks, ND
- 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
- 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
- In flight encounter with weather
- 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
- Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
- 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 › Aircraft handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Flight into known adverse weather, initiated
- Pilot in command › Lack of total instrument time
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
- Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, continued
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER CRASHED IN AN OPEN FIELD SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF IN ADVERSE WEATHER. THE PILOT WAS NOT INSTRUMENT RATED ANDHAD RECEIVED WEATHER BRIEFINGS BY TELEPHONE FROM A FLIGHT SERVICE STATION. THE FORECAST WAS NOT FAVORABLE, BUT THE PILOTSTATED 'WELL I THINK I CAN GET OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT WITH A HELICOPTER, NO PROBLEM.' THE PILOT TOOK OFF WHILE SEVERAL WITNESSES WATCHED. ONE WITNESS OBSERVED HIM WIPE CONDENSATION OFF THE INSIDE OF THE PLEXIGLASS TWICE PRIOR TO DEPARTURE.AFTER TAKEOFF,WHICH THE AIRPORT MANAGER THOUGHT WOULD BE POSTPONED FOR WEATHER, THE HELICOPTER DISAPPEARED IN THE FOG ATA DISTANCE OF ABOUT ONE HALF MILE AND ALTITUDE OF 200 FT. THE WITNESSES HEARD THE AIRCRAFT NOISE CHANGE FROM NORTHWEST TO NORTHEAST WHICH PUZZLED THEM. NO ONE HEARD THE SOUNDS OF THE ACFT IMPACT. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND ABOUT ONE AND ONE- HALF MILES NORTHEAST OF THE AIRPORT BY A FARMER, APRX TWO HOURS AFTER DEPARTURE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN83FA049
- Event ID
- 20001214X41971
- Case number
- DEN83FA049
- 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: 27d4edad7aff5c07cc2b287881fdf90870e1e811968917fe33ba5593ed88c315; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:16:35.185Z.