LAX04CA332 · Bell 222U
California Shock Trauma Air Rescue Bell 222U · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS) to Napa County Airport (APC)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's flight rules. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX04CA332
- 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
Bell 222U
- Aircraft type
- Bell 222
- 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
- N222UT
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS), Santa Rosa, CATo Napa County Airport (APC), Napa, 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 Possible conflict
- 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 · hover in ground effect
- 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 › Collective, excessive
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During a hover taxi on a company 14 CFR Part 135 pilot checkride, the helicopter did a series of fore and aft skid collisions with the taxiway, and the tail rotor separated from the helicopter. The purpose of the flight was for one of the company pilots to complete a initial instrument check ride. As the examinee taxied the helicopter for departure, the check pilot retarded the number 1 engine to a partial power setting. The examinee lowered the collective. The helicopter skids contacted the ground and it bounced into the air in a nose-low attitude. This was followed by a ground contact on the toes of the skids, and an additional bounce. During the second bounce, aft cyclic was applied, and the tail rotor contacted the ground and broke from the helicopter. The helicopter bounced and began turning to the right. The check pilot applied power to the number 1 engine and the forward portion of the skids contacted the ground while the helicopter turned to the right. The helicopter spun approximately 270 degrees about 10 feet above ground level. After 1 to 1 1/2 turns, the check pilot assumed control of the helicopter. He leveled the helicopter and applied full left pedal. The spin continued until he closed both throttles and performed a hovering autorotation. Neither the check pilot, nor the examinee reported any mechanical malfunctions with the helicopter prior to the accident. The chief pilot said the check airman responded in accordance with current company policy and procedures.
Probable cause
the pilot-in-command's (examinee's) incorrect collective control response to a simulated power loss of the number 1 engine.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX04CA332
- Event ID
- 20041022X01677
- Case number
- LAX04CA332
- 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: 2cfb28c868ae65b3b731c5ea495650a7ab80093fc4581b69d03df543fa229bac; retrieved 2026-09-22T06:40:42.812Z.