DFW05CA220 · Robinson R-44
Robinson R-44 · Accident: hard landing
From Odessa Schlemeyer Field (ODO) to Odessa Schlemeyer Field (ODO)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05CA220
- 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-44
- Aircraft type
- Robinson R-44
- 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
- N160TX
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Odessa Schlemeyer Field (ODO), Odessa, TXTo Odessa Schlemeyer Field (ODO), Odessa, TX
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Hard landing
- 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 › Flare, improper
- 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 1,212-hour commercial pilot departed runway 11 and remained in the landing pattern to demonstrate a simulated emergency landing for his passengers. While on the left downwind the pilot applied carburetor heat and radioed his intentions. Approximately 200 feet above ground level (agl), he lined up for a final approach to runway 11 and checked his instruments. All indications were "normal" so the pilot proceeded to "[roll] off" the engine power. With the "rotor RPM [bleeding] off very rapidly", the pilot elected to leave the collective in the full down position until he applied full engine throttle to start the flare. Shortly thereafter the pilot realized that the helicopter was going to impact the ground "hard." The helicopter impacted the runway with enough force that the main rotor blades contacted the tail boom resulting in its separation from the fuselage. The helicopter continued to slide down the runway for approximately 25 to 30 feet before rolling and coming to rest on its right side. An examination of the helicopter revealed the fuselage, main and tail rotor blades, and the tail rotor drive shaft sustained structural damage. The pilot reported that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure with the helicopter.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain main rotor RPM and the improper landing flare which resulted in a hard landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05CA220
- Event ID
- 20051026X01726
- Case number
- DFW05CA220
- 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: 401af61060b5adcdfd02b9a6425f98d12d7cfda8ca9d9efe6b259b41942fca73; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:27:04.688Z.