ERA10LA019 · Robinson R44
Robinson R44 · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) while maneuvering
From La Belle, FL to La Belle, FL
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's location. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA10LA019
- 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
- N3038W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From La Belle, FLTo La Belle, FL
- 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 · low-altitude flying
- Defining eventThe 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 engine power (partial)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that he was conducting a flight at a low altitude and speed when he heard a light tapping sound followed by the low rotor rpm warning horn. He attempted to simultaneously initiate an autorotation and maintain forward speed to reach a clearing. The tail boom and tail rotor struck trees, and the pilot lost directional control of the helicopter. The helicopter touched down in the clearing, spun about 180 degrees to the right, and rolled onto its left side. A postaccident examination revealed that one of the rotor drive belts was separated and that each of the remaining three belts was frayed and partially displaced from at least one of its respective sheaves. According to a representative for the helicopter manufacturer, the fraying was typical of a drive belt that was displaced from the sheave while the engine was running. The fraying could be caused by the belt being too loose, by abrupt maneuvering of the helicopter, or by the helicopter striking the ground when the engine was running. The representative also stated that when a drive belt starts to fail, it tends to make a repetitive noise similar to that reported by the pilot, and that drive belt failure could result in low rotor rpm. The reason(s) for the drive belt failures could not be determined and maintenance records were not available during the investigation.
Probable cause
The loss of main rotor rpm due to the failure of one or more of the drive belts for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA10LA019
- Event ID
- 20091016X00213
- Case number
- ERA10LA019
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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. 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: 6ed8ac7b4bce30c9529c1083f2f8c08f62a404eadfb0817cc300761b916b865f; retrieved 2026-09-15T13:24:46.063Z.