LAX82DA264 · Bell 204
San Joaquin Helicopters Bell 204 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From 7CA0 · BERRENDA MESA, CA to 7CA0 · BERRENDA MESA, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82DA264
- 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
Bell 204
- Aircraft type
- Bell 204
- 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
- N910PD
- Operator
- San Joaquin Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 7CA0 · BERRENDA MESA, CATo 7CA0 · BERRENDA MESA, CA
- 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
- Maneuvering · aerial application
- 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
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Adequate rotor RPM, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Distance, misjudged
- Weather condition › Tailwind
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Delano, CA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS SPRAYING FOR MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLIES WITH ANOTHER ACFT. ENTERING A "SCISSORS" OR OPPOSITE DIRECTION PATTERN WITH THE SECOND HELICOPTER SPRAYING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, THE PLT HAD TO SLOW DOWN IN ORDER TO BEGIN HIS SWATH AT THE COMPLETION OF THE OTHER'S RUN. FURTHER REDUCING SPEED TO MAINTAIN CLEARANCE, THE PLT LOST TRANSLATIONAL LIFT IN THE PREVAILING TAILWIND. INSUFFICIENT ALTITUDE REMAINED TO RECOVER HIS LOSS OF RPM & THE ACFT SETTLED INTO THE TREES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82DA264
- Event ID
- 20020917X03583
- Case number
- LAX82DA264
- 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: e334f929557da4324e83fc444f0a3641959be97fce0851b064e540acab810ffb; retrieved 2026-09-24T02:14:18.609Z.