Petroleum Helicopters Bell 206B-3 accident
Bell 206B-3 · Accident: loss of control in flight during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX87FA017
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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-3
- 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
- N3182V
- Operator
- Petroleum Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA), Goleta, CA
- 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
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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
- Airport facilities, runway/landing area condition › Foreign substance covered
- Airport personnel › Other airport/runway maintenance, improper
- Company/operator management › Facility, inadequate design(standard/requirement)
- Landing gear, skid assembly › Movement restricted
- Pilot in command › Aircraft handling, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELIPAD DECK AT THE STERN OF THE BARGE WAS COVERED WITH A LOOSELY SECURED ROPE NET AND WITNESSES REPORTED THAT AS THE HELICOPTER LIFTED UP TO A HOVER THE NET CAME UP 'CAUGHT ON THE REAR OF THE LEFT SKID.' THE ACFT WAS SEEN TO HOVER FOR A MOMENT WITH THE NET TANGLED IN THE LEFT SKID, THEN THE NET 'SUDDENLY LET GO.' THE ACFT WAS SEEN TO 'PITCH NOSE UP' AND BANK VIOLENTLY LEFT INTO A CRANE AND A DAVIT BEFORE IT FELL OVERBOARD AND SANK. ACCORDING TO A SURVIVING PASSENGER SEATED NEXT TO THE PILOT, AFTER THE HELICOPTER HOVERED FOR A MOMENT THE PILOT LEANED OVER AND ASKED 'ARE WE HUNG UP' JUST BEFORE THE HELICOPTER BANKED LEFT AND COLLIDED WITH THE STRUCTURES. BOTH OF THE HELICOPTER SKIDS AND OTHER WRECKAGE WAS FOUND CAUGHT ON THE DAVIT. EXAMINATION OF THE SKIDS REVEALED STRANDS OF THE ROPE MATERIAL CAUGHT IN BETWEEN THE BOLT HEAD AND SKID FLANGE FOR THE LEFT GROUND HANDLING BOLT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX87FA017
- Event ID
- 20001213X34974
- Case number
- LAX87FA017
- 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: 3b5ec0a81012d66530ea8b302a8b7b9dc5988c8f4652ac6d356046aaa22e99f8; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:17:09.420Z.