[ems] MBB BO-105C accident
MBB BO-105C · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY) to Worcester Regional Airport (ORH)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC84FA240
- 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
MBB BO-105C
- Aircraft type
- MBB BO-105
- 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
- N105CP
- Operator
- [ems]
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Martha's Vineyard Airport (MVY), MARTHA'S VINEYD, MATo Worcester Regional Airport (ORH), Worcester, MA
- 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
- 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
- Fuel starvation; 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Pilot in command › Fuel boost pump selector position, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel system, improper use of
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE MESSERSCHMITT-BLOHM-BOELKOW BO-105C WAS ON AN AIR AMBULANCE FLT WITH A PLT, 2 ADDITIONAL CREWMEMBERS (DOCTOR & NURSE) & A PASSENGER (PATIENT) ON BOARD. DURING FLT, THE PLT RADIOED THAT HE HAD LOST POWER IN 1 ENG, THEN ABOUT 14 SEC LATER, HE RADIOED THAT THE OTHER ENG HAD ALSO LOST POWER. DURING A FORCED LANDING/AUTOROTATION TO A ROAD AT NIGHT, THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH POWER LINES & CRASHED. NO FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE RIGHT SUPPLY TANK & ONLY ABOUT 1 GAL OF FUEL WAS FOUND IN THE LEFT SUPPLY TANK. THE MAIN TANK HAD 15.4 GAL REMAINING, BUT THE RESPECTIVE FUEL BOOST PUMP SWITCHES WERE FOUND IN THE 'OFF' POSITION. THE REAR MAIN FUEL TANK HAD ONLY SLIGHTLY OVER 1 GAL REMAINING. ALSO, AN ELECTRICAL WIRE IN THE LOW FUEL WARNING CIRCUIT WAS NOT CONNECTED. THE FUEL SUPPLY TO EACH ENG IS FROM THE FUEL SUPPLY TANKS, WHICH ARE INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC84FA240
- Event ID
- 20001214X40458
- Case number
- NYC84FA240
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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 1984-07-15.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 3f5d989270fec4c3b71dfed70100355bd9cd443fbce86dab350cb0c9acef9465; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:28:09.106Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N105CP; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.