FTW92GA157 · Hughes OH-6A
U. S. Border Patrol Hughes OH-6A · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From El Paso International Airport (ELP) to El Paso International Airport (ELP)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's operation. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92GA157
- 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
- General aviation Possible conflict
- 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
Hughes OH-6A
- Aircraft type
- Hughes OH-6
- 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
- N10436
- Operator
- U. S. Border Patrol
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From El Paso International Airport (ELP), El Paso, TXTo El Paso International Airport (ELP)
- 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS BEING FLOWN ON A U. S. BORDER PATROL SURVEILLANCE MISSION WHEN IT STRUCK TWO STATIC LINES OF A POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM. THE 125 FOOT HIGH LINES WERE STRUNG ACROSS A DRAW AND SUPPORTED BY TOWERS LOCATED ON MOUNTAINS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE DRAW. THE AIRCRAFT WAS EQUIPPED WITH A WIRE STRIKE PROTECTION SYSTEM AND EVIDENCE INDICATED THAT ONE OF THE STATIC LINES WAS ENGAGED AND CUT BY THE UPPER CUTTER. HOWEVER, THE EVIDENCE ALSO INDICATED THAT THE SECOND STATIC LINE STRUCK THREE OF THE FOUR BLADES OF THE MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM. THE BLADES SUBSEQUENTLY DEPARTED THE HUB AND THE MAIN TRANSMISSION SEPARATED FROM THE AIRFRAME.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO SEE AND AVOID THE WIRES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92GA157
- Event ID
- 20001211X14860
- Case number
- FTW92GA157
- 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: 319d05bf506599410c386fd237502ebf11486dd4ed55c9b793b1dd9abacc5a5d; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:07:37.600Z.