- Date
- February 25, 1984, 10:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Coalville, UT
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N16803Bell 206B-III
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840225062699A
- Case key
- 16201
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The helicopter was equipped with 'bear paws'. Snowshoe-like devices on the skids to distribute weight on soft surfaces. The bear paws on this acft rotated freely around the skids, not tightened down as per design spec. Also, bear paws are not approved for American acft by the FAA. This helicopter landed on what the pilot thought was a firm landing surface but was actually 5 ft of snow covered with a thin crust of ice. A passenger that the pilot had deboarded earlier about 900 ft down the mountain, stated that he saw the helicopter roll over on its right side aprx 5 mins after he left the aircraft. This individual stated that the pilot did not shut down the helicopter after he was left off. During the rollover, one blade of the rotor sliced through the cockpit it departed the acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N16803
- Reported as
- Bell 206B-III
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2225
- Airframe hours
- 4,601
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Wiebe Gortmaker, doing business as Pegasus Helicopters Inc
- Registered owner
- Redstone Investments, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · December 6, 1983 · 259 hours before
- Departed
- Wanship, UT
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,674 total · 3,152 in this make and model · 3,610 as pilot in command · 114 in the last 90 days · 114 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 34 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SLC, 38 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.