- Date
- June 2, 1989, 07:00 local (12:00 UTC)
- Place
- Abbeville, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N992PTBell 206L
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 10, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890602014279A
- Case key
- 22874
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
Partial loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. Factors related to the accident were: person(s) in the intended emergency landing area and soft terrain where the helicopter touched down.
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
According to the plt, there was a variation in eng pwr as he apchd the destn, as well as a low rotor RPM indcn. He said he elected to make an autorotation onto a twy, but he notice someone in the intended landing area. Subsequently, he maneuvered to land in a grassy area, but during a run-on landing, the helicopter encountered soft terrain & rocked forward. As the helicopter rocked forward, the main rotor blades struck the tail boom, severing the tail rotor assembly. During an operational check, the eng ran normally. No reason was found for the reported variation of eng power & low RPM.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N992PT
- Reported as
- Bell 206L
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 45716
- Airframe hours
- 4,487
- Engine
- Allison 250-C28B, 435 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Operator
- Taylor Energy Vthe
- Registered owner
- Taylor Energy Company
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 11, 1989 · 68 hours before
- Departed
- LAF · Lafayette, LA
- Airport
- OR3 · Abbeville Muni
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 30
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 700 in this make and model · 7,000 as pilot in command · 240 in the last 90 days · 80 in the last 30 days · 9 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.