CHI03FA181 · Robinson R44 II
Robinson R44 II · Accident: loss of control in flight en route
From Mukwonago, WI to Kansas City, MO
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI03FA181
- 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
- 3 · 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 R44 II
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R44
- 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
- N7512P
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mukwonago, WITo Kansas City, 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 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not maintained
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 on impact with terrain following an uncontrolled descent from cruise flight. A witness stated, "The copter didn't seem to have maneuvering difficulty. It still continued to lose altitude. I noticed the propeller losing speed. The copter appeared to lose half of its [altitude] very quickly. Before the copter actually went down, the blades appeared to stop rotation and then I counted 2 blades." Weather was: Wind 200 degrees at 6 knots; visibility 8 statute miles; sky condition clear. An on-scene investigation was conducted and no helicopter pre-impact anomalies were detected. No pre-impact anomalies were detected in the testing of the magnetos, fuel distribution valve, distribution lines, fuel injectors, fuel servo, hydraulic system, and the engine. An analysis of the liquid from the fuel servo revealed "the presence of aviation gasoline." On the back of the student pilot's certificate was stated in bold lettering, "Passenger-Carrying Prohibited." Two passengers were fatally injured. Toxicological testing revealed, "0.377 (ug/ml, ug/g) AMPHETAMINE detected in Blood, 10.479 (ug/ml, ug/g) AMPHETAMINE detected in Urine, 0.626 (ug/mL, ug/g) FLUOXETINE detected in Blood, FLUOXETINE present in Urine, NORFLUOXETINE present in Blood, NORFLUOXETINE present in URINE." FAR 91.17 stated, "No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft ... while using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety." Forensic Toxicology Information Sheet excerpts stated, "Amphetamine is a widely used drug of abuse. However, amphetamine is used in medicine primarily in combination with dextroamphetamine for the treatment of narcolepsy and attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity. ...Fluoxetine is a prescription antidepressant also indicated for the use of obsessive-compulsive disorder and bulimia nervosa (an eating disorder) and often known by the trade name Prozac. Norfluoxetine is a metabolite of fluoxetine. Amphetamine is a stimulant, often known informally as "speed." It may be prescribed for conditions including narcolepsy, obesity, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, but it is often a drug of abuse and has a high incidence of addiction.
Probable cause
The pilot not maintaining main rotor RPM during cruise flight. The factor in the two passenger's fatal injuries was the pilot not following directives concerning the prohibition of carrying passengers while a student pilot. Other factors were the pilot's use of inappropriate medication/drugs, and the impairment of the pilot by amphetamine.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI03FA181
- Event ID
- 20030701X00975
- Case number
- CHI03FA181
- 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: 5a0e64a1e852a4e34af5eb40058a0cea55a77b8cd9b3d415c2851bcd5f697d88; retrieved 2026-09-20T19:07:26.263Z.