Omni Energy Services Bell 206L-1 accident
Bell 206L-1 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Moulton Cove, LA (no airport) to WC 280 GOM, GM (no airport)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05CA149
- 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-1
- 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
- N2761X
- Operator
- Omni Energy Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Moulton Cove, LA (no airport)To WC 280 GOM, GM (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 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Partial 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Miscellaneous, engine compressor stall/surge › Foreign object damage
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After take off from a remote helipad, during initial climb, the 5,000- hour helicopter pilot reported that approximately 150-200 feet agl, with 80-85% torque, he heard the engine make "popping noises" and the helicopter yawed left. The engine immediately lost power associated with rapid decay of N1 and rotor rpm. Subsequently, the pilot executed an autorotation to a swampy area adjacent to a tree line. The pilot and passengers exited the helicopter after the landing with no injuries. Examination of the helicopter revealed evidence that the main rotor blade(s) had contacted and severed the tail boom upon touchdown. Further examination of the engine revealed evidence of foreign object ingestion. Remnants and the smell of an amphibian were present in the engine bleed manifold port and intake, and impact evidence was noted on the compressor front support. The operator reported that the helicopter had remained overnight at the remote helipad the night prior to the flight, which was the first of the day for the helicopter. The operator further stated that there had been reports in the past about ingestion of "green frogs" which are common to the area.
Probable cause
The loss of engine power due to foreign object ingestion into the compressor. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain (swampy) for the forced landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05CA149
- Event ID
- 20050707X00952
- Case number
- DFW05CA149
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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: 12d2072edc78ac5d69b9d5ea9c7ed735efb5087c22962166d2e06490532daade; retrieved 2026-09-18T15:01:53.266Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N2761X; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.