Kona Helicopters Bell 206B accident
Bell 206B · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Waikoloa Heliport (HI07) to Hilo International Airport (ITO)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA041
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Bell 206B
- 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
- N16712
- Operator
- Kona Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waikoloa Heliport (HI07), Waikoloa, HITo Hilo International Airport (ITO), Hilo, HI
- 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
- Maneuvering · turn to reverse direction
- 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 › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
ACCORDING TO THE PILOTS STATEMENT, AS THE HELICOPTER FLEW OVER A SADDLE PASS IN A MOUNTAIN AREA THE FLIGHT ENCOUNTERED CLOUDS WHICH RAPIDLY CLOSED DOWN ON AND AROUND THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT SAID 'I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO SLOW DOWN AND TRY TO TURN AROUND WITHOUT GETTING INTO THE LOW CLOUDS THAT WERE MOVING IN.' AS THE AIRCRAFT SLOWED, IT SUDDENLY BEGAN TO ROTATE TO THE RIGHT. THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO CORRECT THE YAW WITH LEFT PEDDLE INPUT AND AFTER THREE REVOLUTIONS THE LOW ROTOR RPM HORN SOUNDED. THE PILOT SAID THAT SHE FELT THE HELICOPTER CONTROL DIMINISH AND SHE ELECTED TO PUT THE HELICOPTER DOWN ON THE GROUND. AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 6 FEET THE PILOT LOWERED THE COLLECTIVE AND THE HELICOPTER LANDED HARD IN A LEVEL ATTITUDE.
Probable cause
THE INADVERTENT ENCOUNTER WITH A LOSS OF TAIL ROTOR EFFECTIVENESS PHENOMENA AND THE RESULTANT PILOT INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA041
- Event ID
- 20001212X18472
- Case number
- LAX92LA041
- 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: c9efe79787d26f1cf7cfc25191e8d28a6483910a382322a5037c2c63d121ae69; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:50:41.791Z.