- Date
- June 13, 2025, 08:40 local (14:40 UTC)
- Place
- Bountiful, UT
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N407SJBell 407
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20250613015539A
- Case key
- 200327
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 improper decision to depart with inadequate clearance from a hangar door.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
According to the pilot, the helicopter was stored on a rolling dolly in a hangar. According to photographs provided by the pilot, when opened, the hangar door swings outward into the ramp area. When the pilot arrived at the hangar, he noticed the hangar door had been opened by another tenant of the hangar. The pilot rolled the dolly and helicopter into the ramp area, and decided to depart with the hangar door open after he estimated he had adequate clearance. The helicopter had ascended a few feet from the dolly when the main rotor blades struck the edge of the hangar door. The helicopter immediately yawed right and impacted the surface of the ramp, resulting in substantial damage to the main rotor and tailboom. The pilot reported no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N407SJ
- Reported as
- Bell 407
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 53608
- Built
- 2004
- Airframe hours
- 2,478.1
- Engine
- Rolls Royce 250 C47B, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Limitless Society, Mark Keaton Hoskins
- Registered owner
- San Juan Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 27, 2024
- Departed
- BTF · Bountiful, UT
- Airport
- BTF · Skypark Airport
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B
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
- 44
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Commercial, Military, Flight instructor
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 14, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,173 total · 98 in this make and model · 2,374 as pilot in command · 96 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.88 inHg
- Observed at
- KSLC, 6 nm away
- METAR
- KSLC 131454Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 24/08 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP055 T02440083 51012
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 28, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.