Accident Details
Witnesses reported seeing a helicopter hovering just above 70 to 80 foot tall trees near Little Beaver Creek. They stated that the helicopter spun around slowly three to four times and that the main rotor was spinning slowly before it descended behind the trees and crashed. The wind at the time was from 010 degrees at 6 knots.
Wreckage Examination
Examination of the wreckage found no evidence of pre-impact damage to the airframe, engine, or flight controls. However, the aircraft was over its gross weight limitations for hovering out of ground effect by 277.7 pounds.
Operational Safety Notice
A review of an Operations Safety Notice issued by Bell Helicopter on October 31, 1983, indicated that the pilot was operating in an environment conducive to loss of tail rotor effectiveness.
Pilot Toxicology
Toxicological tests on the pilot revealed 194.000 mg/dL of ethanol detected in blood and 274.000 mg/dL of ethanol detected in urine.