- Date
- July 8, 2024, 19:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Thorntown, IN · Cornfield
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N206WXBell 206L-3
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration (Indianapolis FSDO)
- FAA report
- 20240708007429A
- Case key
- 194656
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to ensure that the load hose was disconnected from the helicopter before takeoff, which resulted in a loss of control after liftoff and a hard landing.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was conducting agricultural flight operations in a helicopter using a truck and trailer as a refueling/loading base. Before the takeoff, the helicopter was reloaded with fungicide and fuel while on the truck trailer. The pilot inadvertently departed with the agricultural load hose still connected to the helicopter. The pilot reported that the helicopter yawed suddenly after liftoff, due to the connected load hose, which he perceived as a loss of engine power. The pilot made an immediate hard landing in an adjacent cornfield, during which the main rotor system deflected down and struck the tail. The tailboom and vertical fins were substantially damaged during the hard landing. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. The pilot opined that the accident might have been prevented with the use of a checklist, better radio communication with the ground crew, and the use of a breakaway fitting on the load hose.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N206WX
- Reported as
- Bell 206L-3
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 51038
- Built
- 1982
- Airframe hours
- 10,133
- Engine
- Rolls-Royce 250-C30P, 650 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Vertical Vegetation Management, LLC
- Registered owner
- KW Air, LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 23, 2024 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- Thorntown, IN
- Equipment
- ADS-B
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 19, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 9,805.3 total · 200 in this make and model · 9,679.4 as pilot in command · 53.5 in the last 90 days · 21.6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- TYQ, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KTYQ 082255Z AUTO 22008KT 10SM CLR 28/19 A2998 RMK AO2 T02830193=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.