FTW01LA195 · Bell 206L-3
Bell 206L-3 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Whitaker Ultralightport (39LA) to W. Cameron 149
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW01LA195
- 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
- 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 206L-3
- 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
- N350AL
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Whitaker Ultralightport (39LA), Cameron, LATo W. Cameron 149
- 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 · 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel system › Contamination, other than water
- Fuel system › Contamination, water
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter was in cruise flight over the Gulf of Mexico when it began to vibrate and shudder. The pilot lowered the collective control to initiate an autorotation and the engine lost power. During the ensuing autorotation, the helicopter's floats were deployed. The pilot attempted to decelerate the helicopter; however, the controls became stiff, and subsequently, the helicopter hit the water hard. Examination of the helicopter's fuel system revealed that the fuel nozzle inlet screen was collapsed and the screen was 80 to 90% contaminated with a brown material with a polymeric-like to varnish-like appearance. The screen was examined by a laboratory, and it was determined that DIEGME, a fuel additive used as an icing inhibitor, was present on the screen. The helicopter's operating environment is such that salt water could have been introduced into the fuel system. The presence of water and fuel would allow bacteria to grow. The combination of bacterial growth, DIEGME, and water resulted in the formation of an "apple-jelly" type material, which then adhered to the fuel system components (fuel nozzle screen). The blockage and collapse of the fuel nozzle screen resulted in an interruption of fuel flow, and the subsequent loss of engine power.
Probable cause
fuel contamination due to the combination of DIEGME, water, and bacterial growth, which resulted in formation of an apple-jelly type material that blocked the fuel nozzle screen and led to a loss of engine power.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW01LA195
- Event ID
- 20010827X01787
- Case number
- FTW01LA195
- 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: 5150d203644e985bd5b77b286027f90cf1c7978b757f8856b321c102b56b7774; retrieved 2026-09-18T16:10:13.411Z.