Bell 222 N222EX

Summary

On 11 October 2025 at about 21:01 local time, a Bell 222 registered N222EX was involved in an accident near Huntington Beach, California, United States. 5 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause has been published yet; this accident is still under investigation.

Date

11 October 2025 at 21:01

Classification

Accident

Location

Huntington Beach, California, United States

Coordinates

33.6506, -117.9920

Aircraft

Bell 222

Registration

N222EX

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1980

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Redlands → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN26FA015

2 people were seriously injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. The investigation is still open; a final report usually follows one to two years after the accident.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On October 11, 2025, at 1401 Pacific daylight time, a Bell 222 helicopter, N222EX, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Huntington Beach, California. The pilot and passenger received serious injuries. One person on the ground received serious injuries and two others received minor injuries. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that he and the passenger departed from Redlands, California, and intended to land in a Huntington Beach parking lot for a large public event. The pilot approached Huntington Beach from north, then circled for a high-speed pass above Pacific Coast Highway headed northwest. The pilot circled again and completed a slow pass above the highway, then approached the parking lot from southeast. As the helicopter descended above the parking lot, he made a small right pedal input to straighten the helicopter, then the nose veered left, and he heard a loud noise from the back left side. The pilot turned right and increased the power to fly away from the confined landing area. As the right turn rate increased, the pilot was unable to maintain control of the helicopter. Witness photos and videos revealed that during the high-speed pass, there were no apparent anomalies with the helicopter. During the slow pass, one of the tail rotor pitch links was disconnected from a tail rotor blade. As the helicopter approached the parking lot for landing, the pitch link remained disconnected (see figure 1). Figure 1. The accident helicopter before landing. A red callout shows a zoomed in view of the tail rotor assembly and a disconnected pitch link. The helicopter turned right and ascended as pieces of the tail rotor assembly began to separate. The tail rotor gearbox separated in half and the output side remained attached to the tail rotor assembly, then landed in the parking lot. The helicopter continued to spin right then impacted a staircase at the end of a pedestrian bridge. Postaccident examination of the separated tail rotor assembly revealed that both pitch horns were fractured in half. All pitch horn bolts and associated hardware remained installed and secure. The helicopter was retained for further examination.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.