FTW01LA166 · Eurocopter BK117-C1
Omniflight Helicopters Eurocopter BK117-C1 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Parkland Health & Hospital System Heliport (TE43) to Wichita Falls, TX (no airport)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW01LA166
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Eurocopter BK117-C1
- Aircraft type
- Eurocopter BK117
- 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
- N313LS
- Operator
- Omniflight Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Parkland Health & Hospital System Heliport (TE43), Dallas, TXTo Wichita Falls, TX (no airport)
- 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 · 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; Tree(s)
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Fuel system, pump › Not activated
- Pilot in command › Checklist, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The twin-engine helicopter departed on a positioning flight to pick up a medical patient. While in cruise flight, at 2,000 feet, both engines experienced a total loss of power. The pilot attempted to autorotate to a field; however, the helicopter impacted trees and came to rest on its right side. The pilot reported that he did not notice any warning lights immediately prior to or during the loss of engine power events. However, it was noted during a post-accident examination of the helicopter that the pilot instrument light and console light variable resistor control was in the ON position. This control dims the master caution and annunciator panel lights for night operations. The NTSB IIC noted that the master caution and annunciator lights were not visible in daylight with the pilot and console variable resistor control in the ON position. Although the two fuel transfer pump switches were found in the ON (normal operating) position, examination of the fuel system provided evidence that the dual engine power loss was the result of fuel starvation due to these switches not being ON during the majority of the flight. The fuel supply lines to the engines were found empty, a nominal amount of fuel was found in the fuel filters, and the fuel quantity indicator displayed 4, 0, and 15 gallons of fuel in the #1 supply, #2 supply, and forward main fuel tanks, respectively. The function of the fuel transfer pumps is to transfer fuel from the forward main tank to the two supply tanks. The fuel transfer pumps were operated during the post-accident examination by turning on their respective switches and it was noted that fuel began to flow into the supply tanks. Additionally, it was noted that the fuel transfer pump caution lights (which are illuminated when the pumps are off) extinguished when the pumps were turned on. The engines were placed in a test cell and both operated with no anomalies noted. The normal operating checklist calls, in part, for the pilot to set the instrument lights as required, test the annunciator panel for operation, and turn on the transfer pumps after engine start.
Probable cause
the pilot's failure to follow the checklist and turn on the fuel transfer pumps, which resulted in fuel starvation and a dual loss of engine power while in cruise flight.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW01LA166
- Event ID
- 20010727X01535
- Case number
- FTW01LA166
- 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, coordinates. 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: 65f140586f9f529470639158182b3294817dbe80988d2906988e48cd19409a83; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:58:31.495Z.