CEN11LA318 · Robinson Helicopter R22 BETA
Prentice Aviation Robinson Helicopter R22 BETA · Accident: fuel related while maneuvering
From Yancey, TX to Yancey, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN11LA318
- 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 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
- N927SH
- Operator
- Prentice Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Yancey, TXTo Yancey, 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
- 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
- Fuel related
- 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 systems
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While maneuvering at a low altitude, the pilot heard the engine noise change and the low rpm warning horn sound. The helicopter settled to the ground and rolled onto its right side. While exiting the helicopter the pilot noted that the fuel shutoff valve had been moved 3/4 of the way towards the closed position. The pilot concluded that either the passenger's clothing or seat belt had inadvertently closed the fuel valve when the passenger had moved near the valve which resulted in the loss of engine power. Due to the low altitude, the pilot was unable to perform an autorotation in time. A postaccident examination of the helicopter did not reveal any preimpact anomalies. The helicopter was equipped with an older style fuel shutoff valve that had a handle that could be easily moved; however, a newer spring-loaded fuel shutoff valve was available that would have prevented inadvertent valve actuation.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power due to the unintentional closure of the fuel shutoff valve.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN11LA318
- Event ID
- 20110504X22736
- Case number
- CEN11LA318
- 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: febb268ebbcf17bd9548bda137ccc08b40538816f503a5d9a87c625555197848; retrieved 2026-09-15T16:07:40.147Z.