LAX95LA113 · Bell 47G-5
North Coast Helicopter Service Bell 47G-5 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA113
- 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
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- 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
- General aviation
- 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 47G-5
- Aircraft type
- Bell 47
- 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
- N1309X
- Operator
- North Coast Helicopter Service
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo CA
- 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Wire, static
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT WHILE PERFORMING A PREFLIGHT INSPECTION HE OBSERVED MOISTURE (DEW) PRESENT ON THE BUBBLE OF HIS HELICOPTER. HE DID NOT HAVE TOWELS, SO HE ATTEMPTED TO WIPE THE BUBBLE CLEAN USING HIS HANDS. THE PILOT FURTHER REPORTED THAT HE OBSERVED BYSTANDERS APPROACHING, SO HE DECIDED TO TAKE OFF AWAY FROM THEIR POSITION, AND HE FLEW INTO TELEPHONE WIRES. THE PILOT ALSO REPORTED THAT THE SUN WAS IN FRONT OF HIM WHICH ALSO RESTRICTED HIS FLIGHT VISIBILITY.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout for obstructions during initial climb. Factors which contributed to the accident were the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection, and his decision to fly with an inadequately cleaned bubble which partially obstructed his vision. Sun glare was an additional factor in the accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA113
- Event ID
- 20001207X02997
- Case number
- LAX95LA113
- 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. 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: 8f79f1ec1b3848dd3fbdef1fb63d277fb0cce7d660a89b0e1c08efe9ccf42221; retrieved 2026-09-21T13:26:00.857Z.