History of Flight
On January 14, 2022, at approximately 1001 central standard time, a Bell 407 helicopter registered as N167RL was destroyed in an accident near Houma, Louisiana. The commercial pilot and one passenger sustained fatal injuries. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 as an on-demand passenger operation.
The helicopter was equipped with an Appareo Vision 1000 cockpit video recorder. According to the recorded footage, the flight proceeded normally until about 10:00:50, when the pilot’s head began to fall backward in a motion inconsistent with normal scanning or directed attention. At that time, the helicopter was traveling at approximately 123 knots at an altitude of about 1,220 feet mean sea level. Thereafter, the pilot’s movements appeared undirected and solely in response to g-forces from aircraft motion. His head moved toward the right and upward until the recording ended. The view outside the windscreen just before the end of the recording was consistent with a nose-down, inverted attitude.
A witness at the accident site reported seeing the helicopter descend into terrain in a nose-down attitude, with no parts separating while airborne.
Wreckage and Impact Information
A postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed no mechanical failure or malfunction that would have precluded normal operation.
Medical and Pathological Information
The pilot was a 30-year-old male holding a second-class Federal Aviation Administration medical certificate with a limitation for corrective lenses. At his most recent examination, he reported no medications or medical conditions, and no significant medical concerns were identified. Department of Veterans Affairs disability records indicated a history of migraines and tinnitus but no diagnosis of traumatic brain injury.
An autopsy determined the cause of death as massive total body trauma, with the manner of death classified as accident. The examination was limited by the extent of trauma, and the cardiovascular system showed no evidence of natural disease.
Toxicology testing by the FAA Forensic Sciences Laboratory detected ethanol in the pilot’s liver (0.056 gm/hg), lung (0.012 gm/hg), kidney (0.055 gm/hg), and muscle tissue (0.039 gm/hg). N-butanol was found in liver, kidney, and muscle tissues but not in lung tissue. N-propanol was detected in kidney and muscle tissues but not in liver and lung. The non-impairing antihistamine fexofenadine and its metabolite azacyclonol were also detected in liver and muscle tissue.