LAX86FJA06 · Bell 206B
Bell 206B · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From Kahului International Airport (OGG) to Kahului International Airport (OGG)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX86FJA06
- 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
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
- N244WC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Kahului International Airport (OGG), Kahului, HITo Kahului International Airport (OGG), Kahului, HI
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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, 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 › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH POWERLINES WHILE CARRYING PASS'G ON A SIGHTSEEING FLT THROUGH A CANYON. THE WIRES ACROSS THE CANYON WERE EST TO BE 1700 LONG WITH HEIGHT AGL UNKNOWN. THE WIRES WERE UNMARKED AND WERE 1/2 IN DIA ALUMINUM. ONE OF THE PASSENGERS WAS FILMING THE SCENERY DURING THE FLT AND THE PLT LATER SAID HE THOUGHT THAT A BATTERY PACK FOR THE CAMERA HAD INTERFERED WITH THE COLLECTIVE CONTROL DURING HIS ATTEMPT TO AVOID THE POWERLINES. THE PASSENGER SAID THAT ALL THE EXTRA PHOTO EQUIPMENT WAS IN A BAG IN THE BACK COMPARTMENT. SOME CAMERA EQUIPMENT WAS FOUND OUTSIDE THE ACFT AFTER THE ACCIDENT. THE BATTERY PACK WAS LATER PLACED BY THE COLLECTIVE CONTROL TO TRY TO DUPLICATE THE EVENT. THE ONLY WAY INTERFERANCE COULD HAVE OCCURRED WOULD BE TO HAVE THE PACK ON EDGE & FULL AFT NEAR THE COLLECTIVE CONTROL PIVOT POINT. THE EQUIPMENT FOUND OUTSIDE THE ACFT WAS PLACED INSIDE BY RESCUE PERSONNEL DURING THE RECOVERY OPERATION. THE PLT ALSO REPORTEDLY SAID 'HOW DID THAT HAPPEN' INDICATING HE NEVER SAW THE WIRES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX86FJA06
- Event ID
- 20001213X33585
- Case number
- LAX86FJA06
- 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: e31baea6cfb830fd51f44c6a3a1ecc84df23dbb2e83c199e422535c56ebca30e; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:34:21.075Z.