Bell 206L-1 N5004Q

Summary

On 9 January 1987 at about 02:15 local time, a Bell 206L-1 registered N5004Q, operated by Omniflight Airways, Inc., was involved in an accident near Pollockville, North Carolina, United States. 4 people were on board and 4 died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

9 January 1987 at 02:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Pollockville, North Carolina, United States

Coordinates

35.0005, -77.2195

Aircraft

Bell 206L-1

Registration

N5004Q

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Omniflight Airways, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Jacksonville → Greenville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Bright

NTSB number

ATL87MA057

4 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE EMERG MED SVC (EMS/MED-EVAC) HELICOPTER (HEL) WAS ON A NGT FLT WITH A 3 MONTH OLD PATIENT ABOARD. AFTER RPRTG LVL AT3000', THE PLT TRANSMITTED HE WAS GOING TO MAKE AN EMERG LNDG. THIS WAS FLWD BY SVRL UNREADABLE TRANSMISSIONS WHICH APCHCTL PSNL THOUGHT WERE IN REF TO AN ONBOARD FIRE. AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, A FLT NURSE TRANSMITTED ON THE HOSPITAL FREQ THAT THEY WERE ON-FIRE & WERE GOING DOWN. SOON THEREAFTER, RADAR & RADIO CTC WERE LOST. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE HEL CRASHED INA SLGT NOSE DOWN, RGT BANK ATTITUDE & BURNED. IT WAS EXTENSIVELY DMGD BY IMPACT & FIRE. CRASH DMG REVEALED THE HEL HAD IMPACTED AT A HI VERTICAL VELOCITY & WITH LITTLE OR NO FWD MOVEMENT. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION OF THE ENG ORAIRFRAME WAS FND. THE HEL HAD BEEN MODIFIED (MOD) FOR EMS OPNS IAW 4 SUPPLEMENTAL TYPE CERTIFICATES (STC'S). THE MODS INCLUDED INSTLN OF A HI PRES OXYGEN (O2) SYS. DRG THE ACDNT, SVRL O2 LNS FAILED FM IMPACT OR FIRE, WHICH CREATED A BLOW TORCH EFFECT. THERE WAS NO PROVISION FOR EMERG SHUT-OFF OF THE O2 AT OR NR THE CYLINDERS. SOURCE OF FIRE WAS NOT FND.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.