DEN86FA054 · Bell 206-L3
Air Method Bell 206-L3 · Accident: in flight collision with object en route
From an unrecorded airport to GJC · Grand Junction, CO
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN86FA054
- 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
- 1 · 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 206-L3
- 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
- N10UB
- Operator
- Air Method
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo GJC · Grand Junction, CO
- 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 · climb to 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
- 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 possible
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, not possible
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER CONTACTED POWER LINES AND THE TERRAIN DURING AN ATTEMPTED TAKEOFF FROM A HOSPITAL AFTER A CANCELLED MED-EVAC FLT. THE HOSPITAL IS LOCATED IN A BOX CANYON SURROUNDED BY HIGH TERRAIN AND POWER LINES. THE PLT WAS AWARE OF THE POWER LINE THAT CROSSED THE PROPOSED FLT PATH. A PASSEN GER STATED, AFTER THE ACCIDENT, THAT THE PLT HOVERED BACK TO THE END OF THE LANDING AREA TO INITIATE THE TAKEOFF. THE HELICOPTER STRUCK THE UNMARKED POWER LINES DURING CLIMBOUT AND DESCENDED TO GROUND IMPACT. A WITNESSES DESCRIBED THE WXAS COLD AND CLEAR WITH CALM GROUND WINDS NEAR THE HOSPITAL. THEY ALSO STATED THE NIGHT WAS BRIGHT BECAUSE OF A FULL MOON.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN86FA054
- Event ID
- 20001214X38388
- Case number
- DEN86FA054
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1985-12-25.
- API snapshot SHA-256: e17b5a08ca4a9cc4479cb0684a89ffc24dc64578d87fcf083c0a56607379af2a; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:43:31.103Z.