NTSB report cites 11-hour delay in finding fatal Alaska helicopter crash

The US National Transportation Safety Board has published its findings on a fatal helicopter crash in Alaska's North Slope region in July 2023. A Bell 206L4, registration N311MH and operated by Maritime Helicopters, struck the surface of Lake Itinik roughly 30 miles east of Wainwright while flying scientists under contract to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. The pilot and three passengers on board died.

According to the NTSB, the aircraft had departed Utqiagvik under visual flight rules after a delay caused by fog, and made a brief stop at Atqasuk Airport before continuing toward its final destination. Satellite tracking data transmitted every three minutes stopped being received shortly after 11:00 local time, though the loss of contact reportedly went unnoticed for an extended period despite both the operator and the department having real-time flight-following access.

The report states that roughly 11 hours passed before an emergency response began, a delay the investigation attributes to gaps in how the flight-following data was monitored and acted upon.

The NTSB noted the pilot had recently left US military service and had taken up his first civilian flying role in October 2022. He had accumulated around 1,900 total helicopter flight hours, with about 80 on the accident aircraft type and 140 hours flying in Alaska specifically. He had flown the same route two days earlier and had also flown the day before the accident.

The investigation focuses on weather conditions in the area, described as involving flat light, as a possible factor in the accident, alongside the shortcomings identified in flight-following procedures that delayed the search-and-rescue response.