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ANC95LA012 · Bell 206

20 Nov 1994 · Juneau, AK, United States

Bell 206 · Accident: propeller/rotor contact to person while standing

From AK to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
ANC95LA012
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
1
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Bell 206

Aircraft type
Bell 206
Category
Helicopter
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N49686
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From AKTo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Standing · engine(s) operating
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Propeller/rotor contact to person
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Other person › Procedures/directives, disregarded

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT HAD LANDED A HELICOPTER AND LOCKED THE CONTROLS DOWN WHILE THE ENGINE AND ROTORS WERE TURNING AT FLIGHT IDLE. HE THEN EXITED THE AIRCRAFT AND BEGAN REFUELING FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HELICOPTER. A COMPANY EMPLOYEE APPROACHED THE PILOT AND INQUIRED ABOUT GETTING A RIDE TO THE ANTICIPATED DESTINATION FOR THE FLIGHT. AFTER AGREEMENT, THE EMPLOYEE STARTED TO WALK TOWARD HIS TRUCK TO RETRIEVE HIS LUGGAGE AND IN DOING SO, DUCKED UNDER THE TAIL BOOM OF THE HELICOPTER, WALKING TO THE LEFT REAR OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE EMPLOYEE WAS STRUCK BY THE TAIL ROTOR BLADE. AN FAA INSPECTOR REPORTED THAT THE EMPLOYEE HAD WORKED AROUND HELICOPTERS IN THE PAST AND HAD RECEIVED COMPANY TRAINING CONCERNING THE DANGERS OF HELICOPTER ROTOR BLADES.

Probable cause

THE EMPLOYEE'S DISREGARD FOR COMPANY TRAINING AND POLICIES ABOUT THE DANGERS OF HELICOPTER ROTOR BLADES. THE RUNNING AIRCRAFT WITH THE ROTORS TURNING WAS A FACTOR IN THE ACCIDENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC95LA012
Event ID
20001206X02540
Case number
ANC95LA012
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 79b550acd8f597e6d78648dae5e17a60db783ad90b261bfb25901635db6c66f6; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:06:03.386Z.