DFW05CA169 · Robinson R44
Drakes Landing Robinson R44 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Rayville, LA to Rayville, LA
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05CA169
- 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 R44
- 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
- N744MD
- Operator
- Drakes Landing
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Rayville, LATo Rayville, LA
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 › Loss of tail rotor effectiveness, encountered
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The 597-hour private pilot was departing on his third flight to the north. Immediately after take-off the helicopter spun to the right and the low rotor rpm warning sounded. The pilot stated "that as soon as the right yaw was felt, left rudder was applied but had no effect". At about 20 feet above the ground, the pilot entered an autorotation. The pilot further stated that, " evidently, I flared too much and the tail boom struck the ground". After the rotor stopped, the pilot and three passengers exited the helicopter. The FAA Rotorcraft Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-21), page 11-10, states, "Under certain conditions of high weight, high temperature, or high density altitude, you might get into a situation where the (rotor) rpm is low even though you are using maximum throttle". The handbook continues, " since the tail rotor is geared to the main rotor, low main rotor rpm may prevent the tail rotor from producing enough thrust to maintain directional control". There was no mechanical deficiencies prior to the accident. The NTSB Investigator in Charge calculated the density altitude at 2,033 feet, and the take-off weight to be within 100 pounds of the helicopters maximum certified weight.
Probable cause
The pilot's loss of control following an encounter with loss of tail rotor effectiveness. A contributing factor was the high density altitude.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05CA169
- Event ID
- 20050719X01054
- Case number
- DFW05CA169
- 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: 6aa2d9409e415205c3bbeb3fab702e7acfe19509d8f1c68d64c309b0c0d5d9e2; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:45:44.551Z.