FTW95FA186 · Bell 206L-3
Bell 206L-3 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach
From Bristow US LLC Heliport (45LA) to PLATFORM 86C, LA
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW95FA186
- 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
- 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
- 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 206L-3
- 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
- N347AL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Bristow US LLC Heliport (45LA), LATo PLATFORM 86C, LA
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Miscellaneous, engine › Fumes
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING FINAL APPROACH TO AN OFFSHORE OIL PLATFORM, THE HELICOPTER FLEW INTO THE EXHAUST GASES OF A FLARE BOOM WHICH WAS BURNING EXCESS GAS. WHEN THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO ADD POWER TO ARREST HIS DESCENT AND BRING THE HELICOPTER TO A HOVER FOR LANDING, HE GOT NO ENGINE RESPONSE. THE HELICOPTER SETTLED AND COLLIDED WITH THE EDGE OF THE PLATFORM AND DESCENDED IN AN INVERTED ATTITUDE INTO THE WATER ADJACENT TO THE PLATFORM. THE PILOT AND FRONT SEAT PASSENGER EXITED THE HELICOPTER UNAIDED AND WERE PICKED UP BY A BOAT IN THE VICINITY. THE REAR SEAT PASSENGER DID NOT GET OUT OF THE HELICOPTER AND DROWNED. THE PILOT SAID HE GOT A LOW ROTOR WARNING JUST BEFORE THE HELICOPTER STRUCK THE PLATFORM, BUT DID NOT GET AN ENGINE WARNING.
Probable cause
LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO INGESTION OF EXHAUST FUMES FROM AN OIL PLATFORM FLARE BOOM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW95FA186
- Event ID
- 20001207X03441
- Case number
- FTW95FA186
- 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: 951cc45c2c12556558a4feabd3a65ce6191e0064c6872f9aac0488f8bda68403; retrieved 2026-09-18T13:42:52.035Z.