LAX92LA114 · Bell 206BIII
Aris Helicopters Bell 206BIII · Accident: roll over while standing
From Mesa Del Rey Airport (KIC) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA114
- 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 206BIII
- 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
- N3903L
- Operator
- Aris Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mesa Del Rey Airport (KIC), King City, 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
- 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
- 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
- Roll over
- 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 › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT THE PURPOSE OF THE FLIGHT WAS TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSE OF AN ELECTRICAL POWER OUTAGE IN THE AREA. HE HAD THREE POWER COMPANY PATROLMEN ON BOARD. AFTER PATROLLING VARIOUS POWER LINES AND SPUR CONNECTIONS, THEY CAME TO A POLE THAT THE PATROLMAN IN THE LEFT FRONT SEAT WANTED TO INSPECT MORE CLOSELY. AFTER HOVERING NEAR THE POLE FOR A SHORT TIME PATROLMAN ASKED IF THEY COULD LAND. THE PILOT SAID HE INSPECTED THE LANDING AREA, CHOOSING A FAIRLY LEVEL SPOT AND TOUCHED DOWN. AS HE LOWERED THE COLLECTIVE, THE SKIDS SANK INTO THE SOIL. STABILIZING THE HELICOPTER WITH CYCLIC, HE TOLD TWO PATROLMEN ON THE LEFT SIDE TO DEPLANE. THEY DISEMBARKED, CLOSING THE DOORS. SUDDENLY THE SOIL UNDER THE LEFT REAR SKID TUBE GAVE WAY AND THE HELICOPTER TIPPED LEFT AND TO THE REAR, WHERE THE TAIL ROTOR STRUCK THE GROUND. THE HELICOPTER CONTINUED TO ROLL LEFT AND THE MAIN ROTOR STRUCK THE GROUND. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE GROUND REVEALED THAT IT WAS SOFT, RECENTLY PLOWED DIRT MOIST FROM RECENT RAIN.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S DECISION TO LAND IN A PLOWED FIELD MADE SOFT FROM WINTER RAIN SHOWER ACTIVITY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA114
- Event ID
- 20001211X14130
- Case number
- LAX92LA114
- 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: a188bc1a16f71bd1278d8f458536ba216d36c7ff64a98332d511cef449b52e19; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:21:11.350Z.