LAX83LA312 · Bell 204B
Bell 204B · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering
From JACUMBA, CA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX83LA312
- 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 204B
- Aircraft type
- Bell 204
- 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
- N1WA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From JACUMBA, CATo 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 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
- 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
- Maneuvering · hover
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS ON AN EXTERNAL LOAD OPERATION TO AIRLIFT LOADS OF CEMENT. THE CEMENT WAS BEING POURED FOR BASE PILINGS FOR POWER LINE TOWERS ON ROUGH TERRAIN. WHILE CARRYING A 3100 LB LOAD OF CEMENT ON A 40 FT LINE, THE HELICOPTER HAD JUST MOVED TO A POSITION TO START POURING. WHILE STABLIZED IN A HOVER, THE PLT HEARD 3 COMPRESSOR STALLS. THE HELICOPTER YAWED & BEGAN LOSING ALTITUDE. THE PLT MOVED THE ACFT FORWARD FOR THE SAFETY OF WORKERS BELOW. THE PLT CONTINUED FORWARD, RELEASED THE EXTERNAL LOAD, CONTINUED AN AUTOROTATION INTO A RAVINE & LANDED ON SOFT, UNEVEN GROUND. PRIOR TO TOUCHDOWN, THE HELICOPTER BEGAN MAKING UNCONTROLLABLE TURNS. THE MAIN ROTOR STRUCK A LARGE BOULDER. SHORTLY AFTER LANDING, A FIRE ERUPTED IN THE ENG COMPARTMENT WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY COSUMED THE HELICOPTER. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE, INCLUDING THE ENG, REVEALED NO PREIMPACT, MECHANICAL PROBLEM. THE PINION GEAR OF THE 90 DEG GEAR BOX EXHIBITED SOME BACKLASH WEAR. THE ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS APRX 3000 FT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX83LA312
- Event ID
- 20001214X43428
- Case number
- LAX83LA312
- 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: 194d211d49d14edf3dec5f12886a38359e12b1d0dbd0e16ea459321deabfaf97; retrieved 2026-09-23T21:53:26.162Z.