LAX93GA270 · Bell 206L-3
Bell 206L-3 · Accident: fire while standing
From Camarillo International Airport (CMA) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's flight rules. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93GA270
- 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
- Government
- 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
- N911VC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Camarillo International Airport (CMA), Camarillo, CATo 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
- Public Aircraft Narrative disagrees
- 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 · idling rotors
- 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
- Fire
- 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
- Other crewmember › Condition(s)/step(s) in error
- Other crewmember › Equipment, other, selected
- Pilot in command › Equipment, other, inadvertent use
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A PUBLIC USE HELICOPTER WAS ENGAGED IN DISPENSING SMALL PLASTIC BALLS FROM AN AERIAL IGNITION DEVICE TO ASSIST FIRE UNITS IN A CONTROLLED BURN OF ABOUT 500 ACRES OF GRASSLAND. THE PLASTIC BALLS CONTAINING POSSAIUM PERMANGANATE, PRODUCED FLAME IN ABOUT 30 SECONDS AFTER BEING INJECTED WITH ETHYLENE GLYCOL. THE ELECTRICAL POWER TO THE UNIT WAS IMPROPERLY INSTALLED SO AS TO BE CONTROLLED BY THE PILOT, INSTEAD OF BEING CONTROLLED BY THE CREW CHIEF. WHILE SITTING ON A HILL TOP WITH THE ROTORS TURNING AT FLIGHT IDLE, THE CREW CHIEF CONFIGURED THE UNIT FOR THE NEXT FLIGHT WITHOUT INFORMING THE PILOT THAT ANY ACTIVATION OF THE POWER SWITCH WOULD BEGIN DISPENSING OF THE BALLS. A FIRE BEGAN UNDER THE HELICOPTER AND SPREAD INTO THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT RECEIVED MINOR BURNS AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS DESTROYED BY THE GRASS FIRE. THE AVIATION UNIT DOES NOT HAVE A FORMAL TRAINING SYLLABUS FOR THE OPERATION OF THE AERIAL IGNITION DEVICE.
Probable cause
The improper configuration of the aerial ignition device by the crew chief and an inadvertent activation of the unit by the pilot. The improper installation and configuration of the unit by maintenance personnel, inadequate crew coordination, and insufficient aviation unit operational standards were factors in this accident.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93GA270
- Event ID
- 20001211X12639
- Case number
- LAX93GA270
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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: 3b686770318e9e1a26620f333256fbf917981efa610d15b4645a8f8455690afd; retrieved 2026-09-21T22:53:57.663Z.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: operation. The narrative states "A PUBLIC USE HELICOPTER WAS ENGAGED IN DISPENSING SMALL PLASTIC BALLS FROM AN AERIAL IGNITION DEVICE TO ASSIST FIRE UNITS IN A CONTROLLED BURN"; the flight was a public aircraft operation, not Part 91 general aviation.