SEA03LA052 · Robinson R-22B
Robinson R-22B · Accident: loss of engine power on approach
From Tri Cities Airport (PSC) to Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA03LA052
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-22B
- 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
- N2629Z
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Tri Cities Airport (PSC), Pasco, WATo Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS), The Dalles, OR
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 engine power
- 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 from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While en route, the pilot made the decision to make an off-airport landing in an open field. While he was making a shallow approach, the helicopter experienced a momentary loss of power and the pilot heard a burble noise coming from the engine. This was accompanied by a low rotor rpm warning and the settling of the aircraft toward the terrain. The pilot then tried to roll the power on further, but the rpm did not fully recover. He was able to hover-taxi about five feet above the terrain for about 50 yards, but when the helicopter began to yaw, he made the decision to attempt to land. During that attempt, with the helicopter moving slightly sideways, the left skid got stuck on a large clump of dirt, and the aircraft rolled over onto its side. During the investigation it was determined that there was approximately 25 gallons of fuel on board at the time of the accident. An inspection of the engine and airframe did not reveal any anomalies that would have contributed to a loss of power.
Probable cause
A partial loss of power, for undetermined reasons, during a shallow approach, that ultimately lead to a situation where the pilot found it necessary to attempt a forced landing while the helicopter was moving slightly sideways. Factors include rough/uneven terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA03LA052
- Event ID
- 20030408X00450
- Case number
- SEA03LA052
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2003-03-30.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 627d40b0cdca2e3062ec2d4b6793959da1acfa3590b15fbf1e76c263d89f7936; retrieved 2026-09-22T09:27:30.469Z.