LAX92LA134 · Bell 206BIII
Smith Helicopter Bell 206BIII · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From TAHOE CITY, CA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA134
- 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
- N59613
- Operator
- Smith Helicopter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From TAHOE 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
- Maneuvering · hover
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Performance data, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER BEGAN AN UNCOMMANDED RIGHT TURN WHILE FLYING OUT OF GROUND EFFECT AT ABOUT 20 KNOTS FORWARD AIRSPEED WITH A DENSITY ALTITUDE OF 6,875 FT. THE PILOT REPORTED THE WINDS TO BE FROM THE HELICOPTER'S THE RIGHT FRONT WHEN IT STARTED THE UNCOMMANDED RIGHT TURN. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO ARREST THE RIGHT TURN BUT WITHOUT SUCCESS. THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED UNCONTROLLED UNTIL IT CRASHED INTO THE LAKE. THERE WERE NO REPORTS OF ANY PREEXISTING MECHANICAL FAILURES OR MALFUNCTIONS THAT MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE LOSS OF CONTROL. THE PILOTS OPERATING HANDBOOK (POH) WARNS PILOTS TO EXERCISE CAUTION WHEN OPERATING AT LOW AIRSPEEDS AT HIGH ALTITUDES. THE POH INDICATES THAT TAILROTOR CONTROL MAY BE MARGINAL WHEN THE RELATIVE WIND IS IN THE CRITICAL WIND AZIMUTH AREA WHICH BEGINS AT THE RIGHT FRONT OF THE HELICOPTER. THE PILOT FAILED TO EVALUATE THE HELICOPTER'S PERFORMANCE DATA BEFORE DEPARTING.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO FOLLOW THE HELICOPTER'S PERFORMANCE DATA WHILE TRANSLATING OUT OF TRANSLATIONAL LIFT TO AND OUT OF GROUND EFFECT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA134
- Event ID
- 20001211X14314
- Case number
- LAX92LA134
- 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: a5c4d36052c0e9682e8ed4d15291a05df306b39c9d9fc18fe500ab24bd0df6f0; retrieved 2026-09-23T03:20:38.637Z.