Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lake Havasu, Arizona 86404
Saturday, October 27, 2012 14:10 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On October 27, 2012, about 1410 mountain standard time, a Robinson R22 Mariner helicopter, N2627M, was substantially damaged when it impacted the surface of Lake Havasu, Arizona, during a photography flight. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries. The business flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no FAA flight plan was filed for the flight.
According to the pilot, the helicopter was temporarily based at Boulder City Municipal Airport (BVU), Boulder City, Nevada. Both the pilot and the passenger were employed by a company based in Florida that photographed boats in motion, and marketed those photographs to the boat operators via its website "Boatpix.com." Typically, the company did not pre-coordinate with the boat operators being photographed; instead the pilots patrol and photographed all operating boats in a given location as targets of opportunity. The typical procedure was to fly low on a path parallel to, and in the same direction as, the target boat, pass the boat, make a 180-degree course reversal degree turn around the bow of the boat, and then proceed to the next boat.
On the day of the accident, the pilot and the photographer flew from Boulder City to Lake Havasu, and photographed boats on the lake. They then landed at Lake Havasu Airport (HII), refueled and ate lunch, and departed on another photographic flight. The pilot was in the left seat, and the photographer was in the right seat. During the right turn for the course reversal, the helicopter climbed to about 50 feet above the water, and then began to descend for a photo pass on the next boat. However, the pilot was unable to arrest the descent, and the helicopter impacted the water, and immediately inverted.
The pilot held a flight instructor certificate for helicopters. He reported that he had a total flight experience of approximately 948 hours, including about 750 hours in the R22. The photographer was also qualified in R-22 helicopters. He reported a total flight experience of approximately 215 hours, including about 205 hours in the R22.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) information indicated that the helicopter was manufactured in 1988, and was equipped with a Lycoming O-320 series engine. The majority of the helicopter was recovered by a commercial salvor based at Lake Havasu, but the tail boom was not recovered. One pontoon was separated from the helicopter during the accident sequence.
The 1356 automated weather observation at Needles Airport (EED), Needles, California, located about 17 miles northwest of the accident site, included winds from 030 degrees at 15 knots; visibility 10 miles; clear skies; temperature 28 degrees C; dew point minus 8 degrees C; and an altimeter setting of 29.93 inches of mercury.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/27/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1410 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Lake Havasu |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86404 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 342526N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1141751W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1356 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EED |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 983 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 31 2012 2:32PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2627M |
| NTSB Number | WPR13LA025 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ROBINSON HELICOPTER COMPANY |
| Aircraft Model | R22 MARINER |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 755M |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | N2627M LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5 STARBOARD CT # 1 |
| Aircraft Owner City | BETHANY BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19930-9679 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | N2627M LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 5 STARBOARD CT # 1 |
| Operator City | BETHANY BEACH |
| Operator State | DE |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 19930-9679 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HII |
| Departure City | Lake Havasu |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 31 2012 2:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |