Bell 206B N5006R

Summary

On 30 March 2000 at about 00:00 local time, a Bell 206B registered N5006R, operated by U.s. Coast Guard, was involved in an accident near Manokotak, Alaska, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 March 2000 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Manokotak, Alaska, United States

Coordinates

58.8797, -158.9301

Aircraft

Bell 206B

Registration

N5006R

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

U.s. Coast Guard

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tuklung → Dillingham

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC00TA039

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's continued VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions. Factors in the accident were low ceilings and snow, and snow-covered terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airline transport certificated helicopter pilot was transporting a radio technician from a remote radio repeater site as part of a government contract with the U.S. Coast Guard. After departing the repeater site, the pilot was in cruise flight about 500 feet above the ground. The weather conditions were 700 feet overcast, with a visibility of 1 to 2 miles. Snow squalls were moving through the area. The pilot said he was maintaining his visual reference to the ground by using terrain features while flying over a flat, snow-covered delta. Just before the accident, the pilot said he was utilizing a line of shrubs as a point of visual reference, but he could not see any additional visual cues beyond the line of shrubs. He decided to turn around and began a right turn. During the turn, he said he lost all visual references to the ground. He looked at the helicopter's attitude indicator, and noticed he was in a 45 degree right bank, and a 10 degree nose low attitude. He leveled the helicopter and applied collective pitch to begin a climb. The helicopter then collided with the snow. During the collision, the landing gear skids were torn off the fuselage, the main rotor blades separated from the rotor mast, and the tail boom was severed. The helicopter came to rest on its right side. The helicopter was not equipped with a radar altimeter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.