CHI01LA327 · Bell 206B-III
EAC Helicopters Bell 206B-III · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From Park Rapids Municipal Airport Konshok Field (PKD) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI01LA327
- 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
Bell 206B-III
- 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
- N56MC
- Operator
- EAC Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Park Rapids Municipal Airport Konshok Field (PKD), Park Rapids, MNTo 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 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- 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 › Altitude/clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter sustained substantial damage on impact with water while maneuvering over a glassy lake. The pilot stated, "Potato Lake selected for low altitude water/shoreline footage. Did high recon, no observed boat traffic in conflict with flight path over water at approx 40 to 50 ft. Commenced with descent profile of 80 mph and 600 [feet per minute]. The descent was to continue until treetop level then terminate descent and cruise over water for length of lake. Flight path was south to north with planned airspeed of 60 - 80 mph, then climb out. Reached target altitude confirmed with left and right shoreline sight picture, raised collective pitch with [simultaneous] forward cyclic pressure to commence over water cruise. Engine appeared non-responsive to power demand. Descent was not arrested. Added additional collective, no response to power demand. Leveled aircraft and impacted water with forward velocity." The front left seat passenger stated, "The pilot did not give us any pre-flight safety briefing or instructions. The pilot did not demonstrate or explain how to use the seat belts or how to egress from the helicopter in case of an emergency. ... Shortly after takeoff, I noticed were flying very low over the lake. Suddenly the helicopter abruptly dove down nose first crashing into the lake. The helicopter quickly began to sink into the water. ... I could not unbuckle the safety harness strap. My clothing was getting very heavy and I began to swallow water uncontrollably. I thought I was going to die. I continued to unsuccessfully struggle with the safety harness. Finally, somehow, I was able to wiggle out of the buckled safety harness." Wind was calm, sky condition clear, and the temperature was 20 degrees C. An on-scene investigation of the recovered wreckage revealed no pre-impact anomalies. A study of an on-board video revealed sounds consistent with the gas producer section of the engine and the main rotor system. Both rear passengers were not wearing their seat belts.
Probable cause
The pilot not maintaining altitude/clearance when he maneuvered above the glassy lake. A factor to the accident was the glassy lake condition.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI01LA327
- Event ID
- 20010928X02013
- Case number
- CHI01LA327
- 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: 8599141f3c49d554c7e3510fe4507edba3c809affe6b2965294c17d6d3492949; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:50:50.553Z.