LAX82DA295 · Aerospatiale SA-341G
Heli Flight Systems Aerospatiale SA-341G · Accident: loss of control in flight while taxiing
From Long Beach International Airport (LGB) to Long Beach International Airport (LGB)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82DA295
- 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
Aerospatiale SA-341G
- Aircraft type
- Aerospatiale SA-341
- 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
- N118EF
- Operator
- Heli Flight Systems
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Long Beach International Airport (LGB), Long Beach, CATo Long Beach International Airport (LGB), Long Beach, 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 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
- Taxi · aerial
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS BEING USED FOR DUAL FLIGHT INSTRUCTION OF SEVERAL STUDENTS. THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT (IP) STATED THAT HE HELD THE CONTROLS WHILE HIS SECOND STUDENT EXITED AND THE THIRD STUDENT GOT IN AND ADJUSTED HIS SEAT AND PEDALS. AFTER PERFORMING THE BEFORE TAKEOFF CHECKS, THE STUDENT PILOT BEGAN TO BRING THE HELICOPTER TO A HOVER. AS THE STUDENT BEGAN TO HOVER, THE IP LOOKED TO THE LEFT IN THE DIRECTION THAT THEY INTENDED TO HOVER. HE STATED THAT BEFORE HE COMPLETED THE CLEARING GLANCE, HE FELT THE HELICOPTER PITCH FORWARD AND TO THE RIGHT. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE FORWARD PART OF THE RIGHT SKID HIT THE GROUND AND THE HELICOPTER WENT OUT OF CONTROL. THE IP STATED THAT HE TOOK CONTROL AND FELT EXTREME RIGHT/FORWARD PRESSURE ON THE CYCLIC, THE RIGHT PEDAL FELT STUCK, AND THE COLLECTIVE HAD AN EXTREME DOWNWARD PRESSURE. DURING THE INVESTIGATION, THE 3 MAIN HYDRAULIC SERVOS AND TAIL ROTOR SERVO WERE FOUND OPERTIONAL. NO EVIDENCE OF A PREIMPACT STRUCTURAL FAILURE WAS FOUND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82DA295
- Event ID
- 20020917X03603
- Case number
- LAX82DA295
- 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: 3c88937c9c96161b28d71358b63f3b1fa9160bfbc5bf87fb617c8fd23e32c8e7; retrieved 2026-09-24T01:40:55.040Z.