FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

CHI03LA182 · Robinson R-22 Beta

25 Jun 2003 · Dexter, MO, United States

Show-Me Helicopters Robinson R-22 Beta · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering

From Dexter Municipal Airport (DXE) to Dexter, MO

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
CHI03LA182
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
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-22 Beta

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
N933CB
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Dexter Municipal Airport (DXE), Dexter, MOTo Dexter, MO
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
In flight collision with object
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
Wire, transmission
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 › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The helicopter was destroyed by impact and a post-impact fire, following an in-flight collision with transmission wires during an aerial application maneuver. No anomalies were found with the helicopter that could be associated with any pre-impact condition.

Probable cause

The pilot's inadequate visual lookout and failure to maintain clearance from the wires during the aerial application flight. Factors contributing to the accident were the helicopter's low altitude and the transmission wires.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI03LA182
Event ID
20030626X00960
Case number
CHI03LA182
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, coordinates. 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: dae64bca9c7820b2c7ea2b1545274b4d736021877ffa59bd8bbae7a832795ff1; retrieved 2026-09-20T19:07:38.955Z.