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Atlas / NTSB / WPR22LA205

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event WPR22LA205

2022-06-02 Reno, Nevada, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N91JK

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BELL HH-1H

Seats / Engines

15 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AC9524

Registrant of record

WASHOE COUNTY SHERIFF DEPT

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot’s loss of control following the inadvertent placement of his foot behind the anti-torque pedal.

Factual narrative

The two pilots were practicing pinnacle landings and takeoffs on a hilltop. The pilot in command (PIC) in the right seat was performing a takeoff when the helicopter encountered a wind gust that resulted in a right yaw. The PIC applied left anti-torque pedal to arrest the yaw when his left heel slipped off the front end of the footrest. His foot became wedged between the pedal and footrest, which resulted in an uncontrollable left spin. The PIC reduced collective, and the helicopter landed hard. The landing skids collapsed on landing, substantially damaging the fuselage and tail. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical failures or malfunctions 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).

  • Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Response/compensation
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Yaw control-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_WPR22LA205.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing, 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.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗