ERA13FA186 · Robinson R44
Bravo Helicopters Robinson R44 · Accident: part(s) separation from aircraft during initial climb
From Miami Executive Airport (TMB) to Miami Executive Airport (TMB)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA13FA186
- 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
- 2 · 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
- N3101H
- Operator
- Bravo Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, FLTo Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Part(s) separation from aircraft
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot, who also owned the helicopter company, hired a mechanic to change the main rotor blades on the helicopter. The main rotor blade change also required several adjustments to the pitch change rods on the rotor system followed by test flights. The accident flight was the second maintenance flight of the day and occurred about 1 hour of operation after the main rotor blade replacement.
Witnesses observed the helicopter flying and heard a loud "pop" sound followed by components separating from the helicopter. They then observed the tail section separate from the helicopter and the helicopter crash to the ground. Witness statements and wreckage documentation were consistent with a main rotor blade rotating upward during the accident flight, which was followed by a tail strike and the helicopter rolling inverted. Subsequently, the mast bumped and the helicopter descended uncontrolled to the ground.
A witness, who had flown the helicopter numerous times, stated that he observed the mechanic make adjustments to the pitch change rods on the rotor system during the maintenance procedure. He also stated that the mechanic told him that the owner of the helicopter was upset and that the helicopter manufacturer installed refurbished spindles onto the new blades. The owner's frustration likely distracted the mechanic and/or applied pressure for the mechanic to return the helicopter to service and revenue operations as soon as possible.
On-scene examination of the wreckage revealed that the pitch-link-to-swash-plate connection for one of the main rotor blades was missing. The pitch link and horn were found about 90 feet away. Metallurgical examination of the main rotor system revealed that the attaching hardware for the pitch-link-to-swash-plate connection was most likely not secured properly and separated after about 1 hour of flight following the maintenance. All other failures were consistent with overstress and no preexisting cracking was noted. No other anomalies with the helicopter structure, systems, or engine were found.
Probable cause
The mechanic's failure to properly secure the pitch link hardware of one main rotor blade to the rotating swash plate, which resulted in the pitch link separating in flight and the pilot's subsequent loss of control. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s/owner's pressure on the mechanic to return the helicopter to revenue service.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA13FA186
- Event ID
- 20130403X65155
- Case number
- ERA13FA186
- 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: bc8129f821ddbf3d21c898a2b21d1f186c6e5c8a5e110f736cad2e9a8793e946; retrieved 2026-09-14T15:55:15.402Z.