NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA22LA007
Registry · N505TJ
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BELL TEXTRON CANADA LTD 429
TCDS
R00003RD · BELL TEXTRON CANADA LTD
Seats / Engines
9 seats · 2 engines
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A64E35
Registrant of record
MERCY FLIGHT INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot’s failure to disengage the autopilot prior to climbing out of a fog bank.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that he decided to perform a practice approach to the runway using night vision goggles. He set up the approach and activated the autopilot. About 200 ft above the ground, the helicopter inadvertently entered a fog bank and the pilot lost visual reference to the runway. He attempted to perform a climbing right turn but forgot to deactivate the autopilot. The autopilot initiated a descent into the fog, the pilot maintained a level attitude, and shortly thereafter the helicopter impacted the ground and bounced. The pilot attempted to initiate a climb; however, the helicopter impacted the ground a second time, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained
- — Aircraft-Aircraft systems-Auto flight system-Autopilot system-Incorrect use/operation
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot
- — Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Ceiling/visibility/precip-Fog-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2021_ERA22LA007.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (autopilot). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
ROSflight 2.0: Lean ROS 2-Based Autopilot for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
ROSflight is a lean, open-source autopilot ecosystem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Designed by researchers for researchers, it is built to lower the barrier to entry to UAV research and acceler…
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
ROSplane 2.0: A Fixed-Wing Autopilot for Research
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research requires the integration of cutting-edge technology into existing autopilot frameworks.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
A Data-Driven Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft Based on Model Predictive Control
Autopilots for fixed-wing aircraft are typically designed based on linearized aerodynamic models consisting of stability and control derivatives obtained from wind-tunnel testing.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Experimental Flight Testing of a Fault-Tolerant Adaptive Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft
This paper presents an adaptive autopilot for fixed-wing aircraft and compares its performance with a fixed-gain autopilot.
- arXiv 2021 · arXiv preprint
An Adaptive Digital Autopilot for Fixed-Wing Aircraft with Actuator Faults
This paper develops an adaptive digital autopilot for a fixed-wing aircraft and compares its performance with a fixed-gain autopilot.
- arXiv 2020 · arXiv preprint
Reinforcement Learning for Robust Missile Autopilot Design
Designing missiles' autopilot controllers has been a complex task, given the extensive flight envelope and the nonlinear flight dynamics.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗