Accident Summary
On October 17, 2019, at about 1538 eastern daylight time, a Bell 206B helicopter, registration N167AG, was substantially damaged when it struck powerlines near New Salem, North Carolina. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 137 as a local aerial agricultural application flight.
According to the operator's lead ground crew member, the pilot completed a preflight inspection at 0745 and had flown 21 spraying loads earlier that day. The team transitioned to the accident field, where the ground support truck arrived first. The helicopter overflew the field, landed to refill the chemical reservoir, then departed north. The pilot turned left to a southerly heading and flew along the west side of the field. The ground crew member heard a pop attributed to a powerline wire breaking and then saw the helicopter travel about 30 yards before impacting the ground.
Wreckage and Impact
The accident site revealed damage to powerlines oriented south to north. The helicopter struck the wire between poles 1 and 2 on a north-northwest heading. The wreckage came to rest on its right side, nose low, oriented on a heading of 351°. All major components were present except for a 9-foot 5-inch section of a rotor blade found 123 feet southwest and a 12-inch section of the vertical stabilizer found 198 feet south/southeast, directly below the wire path. The main rotor mast was fractured about 2 inches below the hub; the hub and blades were located 5 feet west. Powerline wire was wrapped around the main rotor mast (about three rotations) and the tail rotor hub (about five rotations). The fuel tank bladder was breached.
Flight control continuity was established from the pilot side controls through the push-pull tubes and servos to the swashplate, with fracture at overload breaks. Tail rotor control continuity was confirmed. The engine sustained damage to the compressor air inlet, and the compressor blades could not be rotated. The main gearbox was rotated aft about 45° and the engine-to-transmission drive shaft was pulled. The tail rotor shaft was fractured forward of the horizontal stabilizer.
Additional Information
The helicopter was equipped with a cockpit display that recorded data about three times per second. The recording stopped about 35 to 40 seconds before impact. The operator stated that the incident could have been prevented with more thorough field reconnaissance and better information relayed to the pilot about ground conditions.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy determined the pilot's cause of death as blunt trauma injuries of the head and neck. Toxicology testing detected no carbon monoxide, volatiles, or drugs.