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Texas Pro Air Bell 206B II accident

14 Sept 1984 · Dallas, TX, United States

Bell 206B II · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

From Addison Airport (ADS) to Dallas Love Field (DAL)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW84FA393
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
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 II

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
N49615
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Addison Airport (ADS), Dallas, TXTo Dallas Love Field (DAL), Dallas, TX
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
Approach
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 exhaustion
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 › Fuel consumption calculations, misjudged
  • Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed

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

NTSB narrative

ACFT MADE FORCED AUTOROTATIVE LANDING OFF ARPT IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA WHICH WAS CONGESTED. ACFT DEVELOPED A HIGH SINK RATE IN THE AUTOROTATION AND LANDED HARD. THE FORCED LANDING WAS DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION. 45 GALLONS OF FUEL WERE ADDED TO THE ACFT AT 1226 CST ON 9/13. ACFT WAS THEN FLOWN A TTL OF 3.3 HRS DURING 2 FLTS, ONE ON 9/13 AND THE ACCIDENT FLT. BOTH FLTS WERE FLOWN BY THE SAME PLT. OPERATOR RECORDS SHOW THAT A TELEPHONIC ORDER FOR 25 GALLONS OF FUEL FOR N49615 WAS CALLED IN AT 0943 ON 9/14. PLT STATED HE PLACED THIS ORDER THINKING IT WOULD FILL THE TANKS (75 GALLON CAPACITY). PLT DEPARTED DAL WITHOUT OBTAINING THE FUEL AND ARRIVED AT ADS AT 0950 WHERE HE RELATED THAT THE ACFT HAD NOT BEEN FUELED. FUEL WAS ORDERED AT ADS BUT THE PLT CANCELED THIS ORDER WHEN PAX ARRIVED SO AS TO EXPEDITE DEPARTURE. PAX HEARD PLT REMARK ABOUT LOW FUEL AND SAW ONE FUEL GAGE NEAR 'E' BEFORE THE LOSS OF POWER.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW84FA393
Event ID
20001214X41058
Case number
FTW84FA393
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: 8fafdc1398600b5776692ba695c5e3babbedf203495dd6d8657858e8ee79b7ea; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:37:17.020Z.