- Date
- December 15, 2025, 02:18 local (10:18 UTC)
- Place
- Las Vegas, NV
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N404LLBell 407
- Defining event
- Unknown: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20251215019049A
- Case key
- 202177
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
Tail rotor blade impact from an unidentified object at an undetermined time.
Findings · 2
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
The aircrew conducted an air medical flight and landed at a hospital, received a patient from the hospital, and flew the patient to a different medical facility. During the post-flight inspection of the helicopter following the second flight, a dent was found in the vertical stabilizer, and a dent was found in one of the tail rotor blades, which was substantial damage. The time and source of the damage was not determined.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N404LL
- Reported as
- Bell 407
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 53446
- Built
- 2000
- Airframe hours
- 11,246
- Engine
- Rolls-Royce 250-C47B, 700 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 135
- Operator
- Air Methods LLC
- Registered owner
- Air Methods LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · August 20, 2025
- Departed
- Fort Mojave, AZ
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- NV86
- Equipment
- Onboard weather, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B, Satellite tracking 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.
Flight crew · 3
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 6, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 6,043 total · 590 in this make and model · 5,984 as pilot in command · 43 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Other flight crew
- Injuries
- None
- Seat
- Rear
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Role
- Other flight crew
- Injuries
- None
- Seat
- Rear
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 23 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- KLAS, 3 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 13, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.2 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.