CEN19FA009 · Robinson R22 BETA
HeliSat Robinson R22 BETA · Accident: fuel related while maneuvering
From Moscow Mills, MO (no airport) to Columbia Regional Airport (COU)
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19FA009
- 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
- 1 · 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
- N923SH
- Operator
- HeliSat
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Moscow Mills, MO (no airport)To Columbia Regional Airport (COU), Columbia, MO
- Aircraft age
- About 13 years (built 2005)
- 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was conducting a solo cross-country flight in the helicopter as part of his instruction to obtain his rotorcraft rating. The intent of the flight was to fly solo cross-country to perform touch and go landings at another airport. About 36 minutes after departing on the flight, the helicopter impacted terrain. One witness reported that he saw the helicopter flying and heard the engine stop. He stated that the helicopter began to lose altitude and began to spin in a downward spiral. Another witness reported that he observed the helicopter flying toward him with its nose pointed downward about 45°. He stated that the blades were turning slowly and that the helicopter was making a circular motion along its axis, but not a spiral, as it flew toward the ground.
The helicopter impacted terrain in a nose-low, left-skid-down attitude. Examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any mechanical pre-impact anomalies. The main rotor blade damage was consistent with low rotor rpm at the time of impact, and the low rotor rpm caution light filament was stretched, consistent with the light being illuminated at the time of impact. Examination of the rotating engine components did not reveal any evidence consistent with rotation at the time of impact. The carburetor heat control in the cockpit was found unlocked and found in the "on" position. According to a carburetor icing probability chart, the atmospheric conditions about the time of the accident were conducive to moderate icing at cruise power settings and serious icing at descent power settings. Thus, it is likely that the helicopter experienced a loss of engine power due to carburetor ice accumulation. Although the carburetor heat was found in the on position, it is likely that the pilot applied the carburetor heat to address the loss of engine power but it was too late and at too low an altitude to restore engine power.
Following the loss of engine power, the main rotor rpm would have rapidly begun to deteriorate unless the pilot immediately reduced collective and entered an autorotation. Given the signatures of low rotor rpm present at the site, it is likely that the pilot failed to initiate the autorotation in a timely manner, which allowed the main rotor rpm to deteriorate to the extent that the main rotor stalled and the pilot would be unable to recover.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing, the pilot's delayed application of carburetor heat, and the pilot's delay in entering an autorotation following the loss of engine power, which resulted in a main rotor stall due to low rotor rpm and an uncontrolled descent into terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN19FA009
- Event ID
- 20181019X05527
- Case number
- CEN19FA009
- 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: 6b88c2515749e8609c3c8fdcabd880f7d671beee8123711630008b009da76942; retrieved 2026-09-15T06:49:42.260Z.