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LAX07CA131 · Robinson R22 Beta

21 Apr 2007 · Spanish Fork, UT, United States

Utah Helicopter Robinson R22 Beta · Accident: roll over during landing

From U77 · Spanish Fork, UT to U77 · Spanish Fork, UT

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Event

NTSB case
LAX07CA131
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 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
N222MQ
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From U77 · Spanish Fork, UTTo U77 · Spanish Fork, UT
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
Roll over
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

  • Dual student › Rotorcraft flight controls, improper use of
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Remedial action, delayed
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Supervision, inadequate

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 practice hover autorotation, the helicopter touched down hard, bounced, and experienced a dynamic rollover. The student performed three hovering autorotations without incident. The student properly entered the fourth autorotation, which was to be the last of the flight. The student then made several cyclic input changes and the helicopter touched down on the left skid, resulting in the helicopter bouncing back airborne. The student reacted by inputting left pedal followed with abrupt right forward cyclic movement. The helicopter drifted right and began to pivot around the front portion of the right skid. The CFI assumed authority of the flight controls in attempt to regain directional control; however, the helicopter continued rolling over on its right side. The CFI reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter prior to impact.

Probable cause

The student pilot's improper use of the flight controls, which induced a dynamic rollover. Also causal was the certificated flight instructor's inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX07CA131
Event ID
20070518X00589
Case number
LAX07CA131
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: dfde362fdcc4589125283fb38a82d710484cc38504daf19af55b0e31c70b9a73; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:53:29.173Z.