- Date
- March 22, 1986, 19:00 local (Mar 23, 1986, 03:00 UTC)
- Place
- Huntington Bch, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N49643Bell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860322010849A
- Case key
- 25104
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
A bell 206B collided with a berm after an eng failure while departing a helipad. The plt indicated he had just departed the helipad at night and at aprx 50 ft AGL the eng failed. The acft vertical fin hit the berm causing the tail boom to bend aft of the horizontal stabilizer into the path of the main rotor. The main rotor severed the tail boom. The acft rotated 90 deg and came to rest upright without further damaged. A tear down inspection of the eng was conducted. There was no indication of material failure or mechanical malfunction. There was fuel found in the fuel control and fuel pump. Exam of the fuel pump filter and high pressure fuel filter revealed no contaminants or water in the system. The fuel pump, governor, and fuel control were examined and bench tested in accordance with manufacturers instructions. All three components met manufacturers performance criteria.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N49643
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1813
- Airframe hours
- 10,829
- Engine
- Allison 250 C-20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Aspen Helicopter, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Rotor Dynamics
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 22, 1986 · 60 hours before
- Departed
- 20L · Huntington Bch, CA
- Destination
- 18L · Platform Emmy, CA
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- 20L · Heliport Aminoil USA Inc.
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
- 48
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 4,084 total · 552 in this make and model · 3,754 as pilot in command · 116 in the last 90 days · 34 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 290° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Observed at
- LGB, 12 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.
Other investigations on N49643 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.