NYC90LA187 · Bell 206B
Bell 206B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during landing
From Worcester Regional Airport (ORH) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC90LA187
- 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 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
- N750LT
- Operator
- Joseph T. Duggan, III · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From Worcester Regional Airport (ORH), Worcester, MATo 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel exhaustion
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fitchburg, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
PRIOR TO DEPARTING A GOLF COURSE IN BERLIN, MA, FOR FITCHBURG, MA, THE PILOT ADDED 2 TO 2-1/2 GALS OF UNLEADED AUTOMOBILE FUEL BECAUSE THE AIRCRAFT WAS LOW ON FUEL. WHILE STARTING A FLARE FOR LANDING AT FITCHBURG, THE ENGINE FLAMED OUT AND THE HELICOPTER LANDED HARD. THE MAIN ROTOR BLADE SEVERED THE TAILBOOM. EXAMINATIION REVEALED THAT THERE WAS NO USABLE FUEL REMAINING ON BOARD. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE PILOT HAD BEEN FLYING WITH THE CAUTION BREAKER PULLED BECAUSE THE ENGINE CHIP LIGHTS WERE ON. THE PULLED BREAKER WOULD ALSO PREVENT THE LOW FUEL LIGHT FROM COMING ON.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO ASSURE THAT ADEQUATE FUEL WAS ON BOARD FOR THE FLIGHT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC90LA187
- Event ID
- 20001212X24104
- Case number
- NYC90LA187
- 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: 45a9833597a2e516aea2f9c8b825319930ce13f609b7f2dfe91b538c4919dab4; retrieved 2026-09-23T05:27:46.430Z.