WPR12CA351 · Robinson R22 BETA
Robinson R22 BETA · Accident: loss of lift while maneuvering
From Monticello Airport (U64) to Monticello Airport (U64)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR12CA351
- 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
- N7135J
- Operator
- Benjamin T Breedlove · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Monticello Airport (U64), Monticello, UTTo Monticello Airport (U64), Monticello, 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
- 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 lift
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that while flying in a canyon about 300 feet above ground level (agl), he spotted a black bear, which prompted him to maneuver the helicopter for a closer look. The pilot stated that he then descended to about 50 feet agl before flying upslope but allowed his airspeed to drop below 20 knots, which was outside the helicopter’s ability to hover. The pilot reported that he then received a low rotor rpm warning and took corrective action to maintain sufficient rotor rpm, but the helicopter began to settle. The pilot added that without sufficient room to gain airspeed and lift he was going to have to land the helicopter. During the landing, the helicopter impacted several trees and the ground before coming to rest on its right side. The tail section, tail rotor blades, main rotor blades, main cabin, and skids sustained extensive damage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate main rotor rpm while maneuvering at a low altitude, which resulted in the helicopter settling and subsequently colliding with the ground. Contributing to the accident was that the pilot had insufficient altitude to accomplish a successful recovery.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR12CA351
- Event ID
- 20120812X01820
- Case number
- WPR12CA351
- 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: 0ff6320e9ff69e8fd95beb2060b45d724ff6cdff6db5db7188e4da44064150e7; retrieved 2026-09-15T19:18:11.968Z.