ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 312606
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| Date: | Monday 15 May 2023 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Robinson R22 Beta II |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N40506 |
| MSN: | 1753 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1991 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3527 hours |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Brady, TX -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Brady, TX |
| Brady, TX | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
On May 14, 2023, at an unknown time, a Robinson R22 Beta helicopter, N40506, was substantially damaged during an accident near Brady, Texas. The uncertificated pilot was fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
There were no witnesses to the accident. According to one of the pilot’s daughters, the pilot regularly attended a Sunday morning church service at 11 am in Brady, Texas, but on the morning of the accident he was not seen at the church service. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach the pilot via phone on the afternoon of May 14th and the morning of May 15th, a family member asked a neighbor to check on the pilot at his residence near Brady, Texas, where the helicopter wreckage and pilot were found near his house. The pilot was wearing his church clothes and dress boots.
The helicopter was found on its right side, facing west, about 15 ft from the north wall of the house. The helicopter was about 70 ft southwest from a concrete pad that the pilot used during ground operations. The helicopter’s ground handling wheels and a hand truck associated with a battery charger were found alongside the concrete pad. The battery charger and its integrated jumper cables were found about 60 ft from the concrete pad against the rear right tire of a white sedan parked alongside the helicopter wreckage. The hood and roof of the white sedan exhibited fresh dirt deposits.
There was a small truck, full-sized recreational vehicle, and two steel drums, located between the concrete pad and the helicopter wreckage. Based on ground impact marks and the overall wreckage distribution, the helicopter ascended at least 7 ft to clear the obstacles before it impacted the ground near the house.
The pilot-side cabin door, normally installed on the right side of the helicopter, separated from the fuselage during impact and was found about 20 ft from the main wreckage. The right door hinges did not have retaining rings installed. The passenger-side cabin door remained closed, latched, and undamaged on the helicopter. According to first responders, the pilot was found in the right side of the cabin with his torso still seated in the right seat, and he was not wearing the available seat restraints.
Flight control continuity was confirmed from the cyclic and collective to the swashplate assembly where both ears exhibited fracture features consistent with overstress. Both blade pitch control links remained intact. The cyclic friction was on, and the collective friction was off. Both main rotor blades were bowed upward with chordwise creases throughout their span. Both blades had rough score marks along their leading edge from mid-span out to their respective tip. The tail rotor blades showed normal wear along the leading edge with no impact damage.
The main transmission and tail rotor gear box rotated freely by hand. The tail rotor drive shaft remained intact, and tail rotor continuity was confirmed from the anti-torque pedals to the tail rotor blades. The lower and upper sheaves appeared undamaged, and the V-belts showed no abnormal wear. The V-belts were in place on the lower sheave and positioned one groove forward on the upper sheave. The upper and lower support bearings rotated smoothly. The upper sheave engaged the clutch shaft when rotated by hand in a counterclockwise direction (looking forward) and rotated smoothly on the shaft when rotated in a clockwise direction.
The helicopter’s main fuel tank contained about 4-gallons of fuel and the auxiliary fuel tank contained unusable fuel. The gascolator bowl was full of fuel, blue in color, with the odor of 100 low-lead aviation fuel with no water present. The gascolator fuel screen was clear of debris. The airframe fuel lines were undamaged and remained attached to the carburetor inlet. The fuel valve was in the ON position.
The engine started and operated normally during several postaccident engine runs. The wreckage examination and engine test runs did not reveal any preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have prevented normal operation.
There was a short loop of chain installed on the landing skid aft cross tube. According to members of the pilot’s family, the pilot would connect the chain loop to an electric winch cable located at the rear of the shed where the helicopter was stored and, if he intended to fly, he would remove the chain loop before flight. The chain loop was not connected to the winch cable at the time of the accident. The winch cable was found on the floor of the shed and appeared undamaged.
According to one of the pilot’s daughters, the pilot purchased the helicopter in March 2016 as an investment and that she could not recall the last time he flew the helicopter. She stated that the pilot would occasionally bring the helicopter out of the shed to perform an engine run and, on multiple occasions, he forgot to engage the collective friction-lock which resulted in unintended movement of the helicopter on the ground while the engine was running. Additionally, the pilot kept the helicopter’s battery connected to a charger while the helicopter was stored in the shed and during the engine runs on the concrete pad.
A search of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman certification records found no record of a pilot certificate ever being issued to the pilot. According to one of the pilot’s daughters, the pilot had served in the US Army but in a non-pilot role.
The family provided a pilot flight logbook that contained a combined FAA 3rd class medical and student pilot certificate dated February 3, 1970. The final logbook entry was a 90-day solo endorsement for a Cessna 172 airplane dated January 17, 1971. A review of the flight logbook did not reveal any flights completed in a helicopter.
The last annual inspection of the helicopter was completed on October 10, 2003, at 3,449.7 total airframe hours. At the time of the accident, the airframe total time was 3,527.0 hours and the engine total time since new and time since overhaul were 4,035.7 hours 1,527.3 hours, respectively. The maintenance documentation included two invoices for replacement parts/components dated August 6, 2016, and September 13, 2016; however, there were no logbook entries for any associated maintenance actions on the helicopter during that period.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=N40506
Location
Images:
Media:
NTSB investigating the May 15 crash of a Robinson R-22B helicopter near Brady, Texas.
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) May 15, 2023
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-May-2023 19:42 | Captain Adam | Added |
| 16-May-2023 14:54 | AgOps | Updated |
| 16-May-2023 16:44 | Anon. | Updated |
| 16-May-2023 20:07 | Aerossurance | Updated |
| 26-May-2023 20:37 | Captain Adam | Updated |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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