NYC04LA162 · Robinson R-22
Robinson R-22 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Hampton Roads Executive Airport (PVG) to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC04LA162
- 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-22
- 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
- N152SP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hampton Roads Executive Airport (PVG), Norfolk, VATo Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Pilot in command › Autorotation, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The commercial pilot/mechanic took off after performing maintenance on the helicopter. He performed four 90-degree pedal turns, during which he experienced no anomalies. He then climbed the helicopter to 500 feet and started to enter a left turn while lowering the collective. He lowered the nose to gain airspeed, and then entered a simulated autorotation. As the pilot pulled in collective, the helicopter continued to descend, and the collective appeared to be ineffective. With the collective in the full up position, the helicopter continued to sink, and impacted the ground. The helicopter bounced, then rolled over into a ditch. Examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the left collective torque tube was fractured at its welded attachment point to the base. Examination of the weld revealed rust on the fracture surface; however, further examination of the fracture surfaces revealed an overstress fracture. Additionally, an examination of the left collective torque tube revealed it interfered with the left seat and could not be extended to the full up position; however, no previous anomalies were reported with the collective movement prior to the accident flight. No mechanical deficiencies were observed with the belts, and no belt slippage was observed.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to complete an autorotation due to the restrictive movement of the collective control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC04LA162
- Event ID
- 20040730X01114
- Case number
- NYC04LA162
- 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: cdff01a486617909c52686cfb46f706c401dc5e9c43cf352744ba0164a0e15b4; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:15:39.165Z.