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FTW86FA142 · Bell 206B

4 Aug 1986 · WATSON, OK, United States

Weyerhaeuser Bell 206B · Accident: abrupt maneuver during takeoff

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Event

NTSB case
FTW86FA142
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
N33W
Operator
Weyerhaeuser
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Improper use of procedure
  • Pilot in command › Inattentive
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Miscellaneous equipment, inadvertent
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

PILOT OF BELL 206B CONDUCTING FORESTRY OPERATIONS EXPERIENCED PROBLEM WITH FIRE DISPENSING APPARATUS BEING SLUNG BENEATH AIRCRAFT WHILE RETURNING TO HELIPAD FOR FUEL. PILOT LANDED, RELEASED EXTERNAL LOAD, AND GOT OUT OF AIRCRAFT TO RELEASE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION. UPON RESUMING HIS FLIGHT HE WAS UNAWARE THAT A CABLE FROM THE RELEASED LOAD WAS CAUGHT ACROSS HIS RIGHT SKID. THE COMPANY MECHANIC WHO WITNESSED THE ACCIDENT STATED THAT HE ATTEMPTED TO ALERT THE PILOT AS HE TOOK OFF BUT WAS UNABLE TO GET HIS ATTENTION. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE MADE A CLIMBING RIGHT TURN AND LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT AS THE EXTERNAL LOAD WAS INADVERTENTLY LIFTED AND IMMEDIATELY BEGAN SEVERE OSCILLATION. THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED SMALL TREES PRIOR TO GROUND IMPACT. THE HELICOPTER SUSTAINED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE AS A RESULT OF THE ACCIDENT. THE PILOT, WHO HOLDS AN AIRLINE TRANSPORT RATING, WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED. VISUAL METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS PREVAILED AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW86FA142
Event ID
20001213X34473
Case number
FTW86FA142
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: f0da19d15a0119db2505d8600352fb9104a7efb12316dcfb836dfa5f7ad34667; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:53:26.033Z.