MKC89FA043 · Bell 206L-1
Bell 206L-1 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather on approach
From Marion, IL to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC89FA043
- 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
- 3 · 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 206L-1
- 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
- N119CG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Marion, ILTo 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 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
- Approach
- 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 encounter with weather
- 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
- Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC); Wire, transmission
- 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 › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
- Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, continued
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS DISPATCHED AT NIGHT ON AN EMERG MED SVC (EMS) FLT FM A HOSPITAL AT CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. PURPOSE OF THEFLT WAS TO TRANSPORT A PATIENT FM A HOSPITAL AT MARION, IL, TO CAPE GIRARDEAU. WX AT CAPE GIRARDEAU DETERIORATED AFTER THE ACFT DEPARTED. DRG VFR FLT BACK TO CAPE GIRARDEAU, THE PLT WAS UNABLE TO LND AT THE DESTN HOSPITAL. THE FLT NURSE COMMENTED THEY WOULD HAVE TO 'GET DOWN' AS THE PATIENT WAS GETTING WORSE. THE PLT ELECTED TO TRACK TO THE CAPE GIRARDEAUARPT BY USING THE ILS COURSE TO SEE IF THE ARPT LIGHTING WOULD HELP HIM TO 'LET DOWN.' HE STATED THAT WHILE TRACKING INBND & HOLDING 'ABOUT 300 FEET,' HE NOTICED THE HELICOPTER WAS LEFT OF COURSE. BEFORE THE ACDNT OCCURRED, HE HAD STARTED TO CORRECT BACK TO COURSE, BUT COULDN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING BYD THAT POINT. ALSO, HE RPRTD HE HAD LEFT THE STROBE LIGHT ON & EXPERIENCED FLICKER VERTIGO. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE HELICOPTER STRUCK A POWER LINE & CRASHED ON LVL TERRAIN IN AN OPEN FIELD. THE FLT NURSE, THERAPIST & PATIENT WERE FATALLY INJURED IN THE ACDNT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC89FA043
- Event ID
- 20001213X27467
- Case number
- MKC89FA043
- 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: a8ca81ed801282b936e31e9a3385f9361a8146d2f100e1886f95e71586910f39; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:10:02.410Z.