Robinson R22 BETA N4684S

Summary

On 3 August 2025 at about 17:22 local time, a Robinson R22 BETA registered N4684S was involved in an accident near Taylor, Texas, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 August 2025 at 17:22

Classification

Accident

Location

Taylor, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Taylor Municipal Airport (T74)

Coordinates

30.5726, -97.4432

Aircraft

Robinson R22 BETA

Registration

N4684S

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1999

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Taylor → Taylor

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN25LA302

1 person had minor injuries.

The flight instructor’s inadequate supervision and delayed remedial action which resulted in a skid contacting the terrain. Contributing to the accident was the flight instructor’s improper judgement to allow the student pilot to manipulate the flight controls at a low altitude/hover.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the instructional flight, the flight instructor demonstrated each flight control to the student pilot at an altitude of 1 to 4 ft above the ground, and then allowed the student pilot to manipulate one flight control at a time. The student pilot manipulated the cyclic control several times with no issue but later allowed a slow drift to occur, which moved the helicopter away from its initial ground reference point. The flight instructor then took the flight controls and returned the helicopter to the reference point. During the student pilot’s last attempt at manipulating the cyclic control, the helicopter drifted to a dirt area, descended, and its skid contacted the ground. The helicopter rolled over and impacted terrain resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage, main rotor, and main rotor gearbox. The flight instructor stated he was too slow to take the controls from the student pilot, which resulted in the helicopter’s impact with terrain. The flight instructor stated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. The Helicopter Instructor’s Handbook, FAA-H-8083-4, states in part, “…beginning the flight instruction at altitude is a good way to allow the student to manipulate all of the controls at one time and with a larger margin of error than beginning the flight instruction at a hover.”

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.