NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW02LA080
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during lift off from a transport trailer resulting in dynamic rollover of the helicopter.
Factual narrative
On February 11, 2002, at 0800 central standard time, a Robinson R-22A helicopter, N8557Z, was substantially damaged following a loss of control during takeoff from a transport trailer near a staging area 10 miles south of Encino, Texas. The helicopter was registered to Weslaco Dodge Truck Center, Inc., of Weslaco, Texas, and operated by the Payne McBride Cattle Company, dba Rio Grande Helicopters of Mission, Texas. The commercial pilot, sole occupant, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 cattle herding flight. The flight was originating at the time of the accident. The pilot reported in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2), that during lift off from the transport trailer, "the top of the helicopter pitched to the left, and the left main landing skid remained nose low." The pilot stated that the left main landing skid came in contact with the left guide rail post on the transport trailer which "increase[ed] the helicopters tilt to the left." Subsequently, "dynamic rollover occurred causing the main rotor blades and the left side of the cabin to impact the ground." The pilot further reported that he saw a helicopter less than 100 feet behind him moving from right to left during his attempted liftoff from the trailer. An examination of the helicopter, by the FAA inspector who responded to the accident site, revealed that the left landing skid was fractured, both the main rotor and tail rotor blades were damaged, the tail boom and airframe were bent, and the left ground handling tab was curled outward. During lift off from a transport trailer, the helicopter's left main landing skid came in contact with a post on the transport trailer which resulted in the dynamic rollover of the helicopter. During the rollover, the main rotor blades contacted the ground, and the helicopter came to rest on it's left side. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2002_FTW02LA080.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
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Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
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