- Date
- April 15, 1987, 13:12 local (23:12 UTC)
- Place
- Laupahoehoe, HI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N370AHBell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 16, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 25565
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 pilot of the bell 206B and his three passengers arrived over a beached barge that they were to land on. The pilot hovered over the barge in a left quartering tailwind of about 10 knots and over a moderate sea with waves breaking against the barge. The two rear seat passengers were deplaned without incident through the right rear door as the helicopter hovered with the right skid resting on a structure on the barge. Afterward, one of the deplaned passengers observed a wave break against the barge and water spraying upward onto the helicopter. Both deplaned passengers observed the helicopter roll left and impact the water. There was no evidence that flotation gear was available to the crew or passengers.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N370AH
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1314
- Airframe hours
- 7,241
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 317 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Hilo Bay Air, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Alaska Helicopters, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 7, 1987 · 88 hours before
- Departed
- ITO · Hilo, HI
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 38
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 6,160 total · 1,400 in this make and model · 5,980 as pilot in command · 241 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,600 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ITO, 19 nm away