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NYC06CA041 · Robinson R-22B

3 Dec 2005 · Rochester, NH, United States

C-R Helicopters Robinson R-22B · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering

From Skyhaven Airport (DAW) to Skyhaven Airport (DAW)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC06CA041
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-22B

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
N40CP
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Skyhaven Airport (DAW), Rochester, NHTo Skyhaven Airport (DAW), Rochester, NH
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 · hover
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 collision with terrain/water
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(cfi) › Clearance, 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 certificated flight instructor (CFI) and student pilot were practicing hovering over a grass area. The CFI reported that the student pilot was flying the helicopter, while he "shadowed" the controls and performed corrective inputs. While hovering, the helicopter's tail rotor contacted the ground and the helicopter rolled over onto it's right side. Examination of the helicopter did not reveal any pre-impact malfunctions. Winds reported at the airport, about the time of the accident were variable from 230 to 300 degrees, with the predominate wind from 280 degrees at 7 knots, gusting to 20 knots.

Probable cause

The flight instructor's failure to maintain adequate clearance while providing hovering instruction, which resulted in tail rotor ground contact. A factor in this accident was the gusty wind conditions.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC06CA041
Event ID
20060203X00156
Case number
NYC06CA041
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: f0af6b1c993d4ae6453ac783f5cdcfdf54053eed456091fbe048e8f536ec049f; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:13:05.099Z.