- Date
- February 13, 1989, 22:17 local (Feb 14, 1989, 04:17 UTC)
- Place
- Tyler, TX
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7025LMBB BK-117 A-1
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report June 18, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890213001839A
- Case key
- 22760
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 execute the published inadvertent IMC procedures when he encountered adverse weather conditions.
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 acft crashed after contacting 70' tall high tension power lines while on a night non-emergency EMS mission. According to witnesses, wx was IMC with low ovc ceilings, 1/4 to 1 mile vis with rain and fog and thunderstorms throughout the area. Witnesses stated the rain varied from drizzle to very heavy. The pilot received 3 briefings from afss and was fully aware of the conditions. He had the authority to refuse the mission if, in his judgement, the wx was questionable or unacceptable. The hospital had written procedures for inadvertent flight into IMC which the plt did not follow. Records fail to indicate that the pilot had reviewed these procedures nor do they indicate that the pilot had received any IFR training during his 1 month employment.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7025L
- Reported as
- MBB BK-117 A-1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7025
- Airframe hours
- 1,254
- Engine
- Lycoming LTS-101650B-1, 650 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- U. S. Jet, doing business as Flight For Life
- Registered owner
- U.S. Jet Aviation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · February 7, 1989 · 4 hours before
- Destination
- NONE · Pittsburg, TX
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
- 45
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 7,554 total · 29 in this make and model · 6,416 as pilot in command · 29 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 330° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TYR, 7 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.