FTW87MA135 · MBB BO-105CBS
MBB BO-105CBS · Accident: abrupt maneuver during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Saginaw, MI
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW87MA135
- 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
- 2 · 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
MBB BO-105CBS
- 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
- N550H
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Saginaw, MI
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Abrupt maneuver
- 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 › Compensation for wind conditions, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Descent, not corrected
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Maneuver, intentional
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
ACFT WAS INVOLVED IN EMS STATIC DEMONSTRATION AT BEAVER TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPT, NEAR BAY CITY. FOLLOWING DEMONSTRATION, SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A STEEP DOWNWIND TURN AT LOW ALTITUDE. REPORTED WINDS AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT WERE 250 DEGREES AT 18 KNOTS WITH GUSTS TO 23 KNOTS. ON-SCENE INVESTIGATION INDICATED THAT THE RIGHT SKID AND MAIN ROTOR BLADES CONTACTED THE GROUND IN A SUGAR BEET FIELD DURING THE TURN, CAUSING LOSS OF CONTROL. THE AIRCRAFT WAS DESTROYED BY IMPACT AND POST-CRASH FIRE. THE PILOT AND FLIGHT NURSE SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES. THE PARAMEDIC RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. TEARDOWN AND EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINES FAILED TO DISCLOSE ANY ANOMALIES WHICH COULD BE CAUSAL TO THE ACCIDENT. PLT ASKED FLIGHT NURSE, IMMEDIATELY BEFORE TURN, 'ARE YOU READY...'
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW87MA135
- Event ID
- 20001213X31212
- Case number
- FTW87MA135
- 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: b044d3265329f87529bfaae1a43c33f6c15e261fb249a0eeee52eca87032fae1; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:07:07.238Z.