Omniflight Helicopters MBB BO-105S accident
MBB BO-105S · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From BENTON, AL to Montgomery, AL
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL90FA073
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
MBB BO-105S
- Aircraft type
- MBB BO-105
- 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
- N105SM
- Operator
- Omniflight Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From BENTON, ALTo Montgomery, AL
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE EMS/MEDEVAC PILOT WAS PICKING UP A PATIENT AT A REMOTE SITE. AFTER THE PATIENT WAS LOADED, THE PILOT MADE A HOVER TURN AND DEPARTED THE SITE ALONG THE SAME ROUTE HE LANDED. AT 538 FEET EAST OF THE TAKEOFF SITE AND ABOUT 40 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH A WIRE WHICH CROSSED ABOVE A HIGHWAY. THE SUPPORT WIRE SNAPPED AND CONTACTED THE MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM. THE HELICOPTER WAS LANDED, STRAIGHT AHEAD. THE PILOT REPORTED SEEING THE WIRE JUST PRIOR TO THE COLLISION. THE CREW RECEIVED A WIRE SURVEY FROM HIGHWAY PATROL PERSONNEL PRIOR TO LANDING AT THE SITE. THE HIGHWAY PATROL REPORTED THAT THERE WERE NO WIRES CROSSING THE ROAD.
Probable cause
THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S INADEQUATE VISUAL LOOKOUT. THE INCORRECT WIRE SURVEY GIVEN BY THE HIGHWAY PATROL PERSONNEL WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL90FA073
- Event ID
- 20001212X22655
- Case number
- ATL90FA073
- 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: e5a7fe8809d82b8c0dd9c5bca38bed895f6634653bb5502a06b388dc779db28a; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:04:08.302Z.