19 Jul 2013: BELL 206B — Kash Helicopter Services LLC

19 Jul 2013: BELL 206B (N23L) — Kash Helicopter Services LLC

No fatalities • Tamaroa, IL, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from terrain during an agricultural application maneuver.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On July 19, 2013, about 0930 central daylight time, a Bell 206B helicopter, N23L, impacted crops and terrain during an agricultural application pass near Tamaroa, Illinois. The pilot reported no injuries. The helicopter was substantially damaged. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Kash Helicopter Services LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 as an aerial application flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The local flight originated from a private helipad near the accident site about 0928.The pilot reported that he took off, flew about one-quarter mile to the assigned field, and completed an initial application pass. He recalled that he was approaching his intended turning point to reverse course for the next spray run; however, he did not recall the accident sequence. The accident site was located about one-quarter mile south of his planned turning point in an adjacent farm field. The main rotor contacted and severed the tailboom during the accident sequence; the helicopter came to rest on its right side. The pilot commented that the terrain was "flat" with eight-foot tall corn. He also noted that the helicopter was "performing great" with no known problems prior to the accident.A postaccident examination of the helicopter by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector did not reveal any anomalies consistent with a preimpact malfunction or failure.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Altitude — Not attained/maintained

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 210/09kt, 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.