- Date
- August 8, 2025, 19:46 local (Aug 9, 2025, 01:46 UTC)
- Place
- Las Cruces, NM
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N279AMAmerican Eurocopter AS350B3
- Defining event
- Landing: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20250809011079A
- Case key
- 200762
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On August 8, 2025, about 1946 mountain daylight time, an Airbus AS350 B3, N279AM, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Las Cruces, New Mexico. The pilot, two crew members and a passenger were not injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 air medical flight. The pilot reported that the flight departed Gila Regional Heliport (NM85) Silver City, New Mexico with a patient, to conduct an air ambulance operation to Memorial Medical Center Heliport (NM77) Las Cruces, New Mexico. The pilot approached the NM77 helipad to a hover. He then performed a pedal turn to the left and the tail rotor contacted a parking sign that was located near the landing zone. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operations.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N279AM
- Reported as
- American Eurocopter AS350B3
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 4685
- Built
- 2009
- Airframe hours
- 9,411
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Air Methods LLC
- Registered owner
- Air Methods LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 8, 2025
- Departed
- NM85 · Silver City, NM
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- NM77 · Memorial Medical Center Heliport
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Video recording device, Satellite tracking device, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 99 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.03 inHg
- Observed at
- KLRU, 9 nm away
- METAR
- KLRU 082335Z AUTO 13004KT 10SM CLR 37/M02 A3003 RMK AO2 T03731018
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.