LAX05FA311 · Robinson Helicopter R22 Beta
Robinson Helicopter R22 Beta · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route
From Zamperini Field (KTOA) to KVGT · North Las Vegas, CA
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX05FA311
- 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
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Robinson Helicopter R22 Beta
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R22
- 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
- N957SH
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Zamperini Field (KTOA), Torrance, CATo KVGT · North Las Vegas, 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
- 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
- In flight encounter with weather
- 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 › Flight into adverse weather, continued
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While flying direct to its destination the helicopter collided with mountainous terrain in a box canyon. The pilot was one of 12 pilots delivering new helicopters to various destinations, all of which required a departure along the same easterly route, through a mountain pass, and then over high desert terrain that included another line of mountains. The planned route of flight followed a major highway and would take about 2.6 hours to complete. Prior to the accident pilot's departure he was observed to be anxious and was heard to say that he had to get to his destination by 1600. After weather delays at the departure airport, the pilot took off at 1425 as the last helicopter of a group of four helicopters spaced about 15 minutes apart. While en route other pilots in the group observed rain and lighting to the northeast of their track once they were east of the mountain pass and elected to follow the major highway and remain clear of the observed weather. Analysis of the meteorological data discloses that the weather conditions in the area to the northeast of the planned flight track (including the accident site location) consisted of light to moderate rain, clouds obscuring higher terrain, restricted visibilities, and possible light to moderate turbulence. Once through the mountain pass the accident pilot radioed a passing airplane that he was heading to the northeast, which is consistent with a straight-line course to his destination. The helicopter was equipped with a GPS navigation system, which had the capability to guide the pilot on a straight-line course to his destination, which could save about 17 minutes of flying time. Based on the evidence, the pilot followed the GPS direct course, and encountered restricted visibility, rain, and moderate turbulence. He unintentionally flew up into a box canyon and collided with rising terrain while attempting to reverse course out of the canyon. Detailed examination of the helicopter and engine revealed no preimpact discrepancies that would have precluded normal operation of the aircraft.
Probable cause
The pilot's continued VFR flight into adverse weather conditions that resulted in a collision with mountainous terrain. Contributing to the accident was the obscuration of mountainous terrain by rain and low clouds, moderate turbulence, and the pilot's self-induced pressure to be at his destination by 1600.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX05FA311
- Event ID
- 20050927X01538
- Case number
- LAX05FA311
- 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: ddd089c0d10fb88272f69d809f055ea27da70934a5927eea24d767182c0ea7f9; retrieved 2026-09-20T17:52:59.910Z.