FTW88DPA01 · Bell 206B
Bell 206B · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW88DPA01
- 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
- N206DW
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dallas Executive Airport (RBD), Dallas, TXTo 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, calibration, not maintained
- Fuel system › Starvation
- Fuel system, fuel quantity float/sensor › Incorrect
- Pilot in command › Clearance, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE FUEL PUMP WARNING LIGHT CAME ON AND THE PILOT HEADED FOR A LOCAL AIRPORT. ENROUTE, THE ENGINE SURGED AND FLAMED OUT. DURING THE LANDING, THE ROTOR BLADES HIT TREES, AND THE HELICOPTER MADE A HARD LANDING. THE FUEL GAGE INDICATED 11 GALLONS. LATER THE GAGE INDICATED 14 GALLONS, BUT FIVE GALLONS TOTAL WERE DRAINED FROM THE TANK. WITH THE TANK EMPTY, THE GAGE INDICATED 8 GALLONS. THERE WAS NO FUEL IN THE AIRFRAME FILTER. AFTER THE FUEL BOOST PUMP WAS TURNED ON, THERE WAS FUEL IN THE HP FILTER. PILOT STATED IN REPORT, 'DUE TO THE FAULTY FUEL BOOST PUMP AND INACCURATE FUEL GAGE READING, AIRCRAFT SUSTAINED ENGINE FAILURE DUE TO FUEL STARVATION'.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW88DPA01
- Event ID
- 20001213X32695
- Case number
- FTW88DPA01
- 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: 5cd3f1df00d8349a7647585ed9eaa5370ea5bd449cc22af987d5d1a6e2e1d045; retrieved 2026-09-23T11:26:53.817Z.