BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON CANADA 407 NO SERIES accident at Abbeville, LA, 23 May 2023

On May 23, 2023, a BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON CANADA 407 NO SERIES operated by PHI, Inc. was involved in an aviation accident near Abbeville, LA. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The pilot’s failure to maintain proper helicopter control during autorotation that resulted in an abnormal ground contact which caused the subsequent main rotor strike on the tail boom that severed the tail rotor driveshaft. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 13 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.