- Date
- August 22, 2025, 16:15 local (22:15 UTC)
- Place
- Eagle, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N171PLKaman Aerospace K-1200
- Defining event
- Maneuvering-hover: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 17, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration, Denver FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250822011389A
- Case key
- 200841
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 maintain helicopter control which resulted in an uncontrolled descent and impact with terrain.
Findings · 2
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 stated that during a rotorcraft external load operation for firefighting, he was refilling the helicopter bucket at a lake. He stated that there had been wind gusts throughout the day and a right quartering tailwind of approximately 15 kts was present when he was refilling the bucket. He said that when another helicopter flew by his helicopter about 50-100 yds right and 150 ft above his position, he felt a push to the left. He pulled back on the cyclic control, but he could not recover the helicopter, which continued pitching to the left. The helicopter descended into the lake and sustained substantial to the main rotor blades. The pilot stated there was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N171PL
- Reported as
- Kaman Aerospace K-1200
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- A94-0047
- Built
- 2018
- Airframe hours
- 1,324.1
- Engine
- Honeywell Aerospace T5317A-1, 1,500 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Firefighting · Part 133
- Operator
- Columbia Basin Helicopter
- Registered owner
- Precision Lift LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 28, 2025
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Handheld GPS, Satellite tracking device
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
- 59
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 15, 2025
- Seat
- Single
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 26,091 total · 1,445 in this make and model · 58 in the last 90 days · 23 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.25 inHg
- Observed at
- EGE, 13 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 17, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.4 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.