ERA12LA282 · Robinson Helicopter R22 BETA
Helikat Robinson Helicopter R22 BETA · Accident: loss of tail rotor effectiveness on approach
From Chester Airport (SNC) to South Meadows Heliport (CT73)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12LA282
- 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
- N1152W
- Operator
- Helikat
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chester Airport (SNC), Chester, CTTo South Meadows Heliport (CT73), Farmington, CT
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 tail rotor effectiveness
- 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 oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter slowed as it approached the landing zone on a modified right-base turn to the north. Gusting wind from the south had prevailed for most of the day and was present at the time of the accident. As the pilot turned to "enter the landing area," he felt a “bump” in the tail rotor control pedals. The pilot added that he applied left pedal to compensate for a right yaw, and the helicopter immediately "started to rotate" at an increasing yaw rate with full left pedal applied. The pilot stated that the rotation stopped when he pushed the collective control "full down" and applied aft cyclic. The helicopter then descended through the trees and collided with terrain. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of pre-impact mechanical anomaly.
U.S. Army guidance listed high gross weight, high-density altitude, low indicated airspeed, power droop, and right downwind turns as factors that may contribute to a loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE) and described vortex ring state, or settling with power, as a condition in which the helicopter loses lift and settles in its own downwash. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidance cautioned pilots to remain vigilant to power and wind conditions and stated that low airspeed, out-of-ground-effect (OGE), and high-power-demand flight conditions were conducive to LTE. Additionally, FAA guidance described unanticipated right yaw in helicopters, or LTE, as a critical, low-speed aerodynamic flight characteristic, which could result in an uncommanded rapid yaw rate that does not subside of its own accord, and, if not corrected, could result in a loss of aircraft control. When operating at airspeeds below effective translational lift, pilots should avoid OGE hover and high-power demand situations, such as low-speed downwind turns. Contributing factors for LTE include high gross weight/high density altitude, low indicated airspeed, power droop, and right downwind turns. Therefore, the pilot’s performance of a high-power, low-speed downwind turn during gusting wind likely caused the LTE.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate compensation for wind during a high-power, low-speed downwind turn, which resulted in a loss of control due to loss of tail rotor effectiveness and settling with power. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s decision to land downwind.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12LA282
- Event ID
- 20120415X85058
- Case number
- ERA12LA282
- 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, 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: 86fd2330b65c0f126bcd50f8401a82c23c0401569e5f541024988cda67e0f456; retrieved 2026-09-15T17:46:08.815Z.