13 Oct 2010: BELL 206B — HEARTLAND HELICOPTER LEASING INC

13 Oct 2010: BELL 206B (N499BH) — HEARTLAND HELICOPTER LEASING INC

No fatalities • Newton, TX, United States

Probable cause

The pilot’s attempted takeoff with the fuel hose attached to the helicopter and the pilot and ground crew’s failure to accurately communicate.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On October 13, 2010, about 0800 central daylight time, a single-engine Bell 206B helicopter, N499BH, was substantially damaged following a loss of control during takeoff near Newton, Texas. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured; however, a ground crew member sustained serious injuries. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Heartland Helicopters Leasing Inc., of Fort Worth, Texas. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 aerial application flight. According to the pilot, he had landed on a loader truck and remained in the agricultural helicopter while a ground crew added chemical and fuel. After mistakenly thinking that a ground crew member had signaled that it was safe to depart, the pilot lifted the helicopter off the truck only to find that the fuel hose was still attached. The helicopter rolled over to the right and the main rotor blade impacted the ground and one of the ground crew members. The helicopter came to rest on its right side and the pilot was able to exit unassisted. The ground crew member was airlifted to a hospital. The pilot later reported that there were no malfunctions or failure with the helicopter’s flight controls or engine.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Ground crew
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.