ATL05FA144 · MBB BK 117 B-1
MBB BK 117 B-1 · Accident: loss of engine power during initial climb
From 97J · Jacksonville, FL to Middleburg, FL
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL05FA144
- 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
MBB BK 117 B-1
- Aircraft type
- MBB BK-117
- 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
- N117US
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 97J · Jacksonville, FLTo Middleburg, FL
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Object › Fence
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter departed the University Hospital helipad en route to Middleburg, Florida. Approximately thirty seconds after takeoff, the pilot reported a loud noise, the helicopter shuddered, and the pilot reported that he lost power in the number one engine. The pilot attempted to gain forward airspeed to continue the flight on one engine, however after the helicopter cleared a set of power lines, the pilot decided to execute a precautionary landing into the backyard of a residential home. Upon touching down on a fence which was covered by hedges, the helicopter rolled onto the right side. Post-accident examination of the helicopter revealed the main rotor blades were broken outboard the pendulum weights, and the tail boom buckled on the lower surface aft of the attach fitting. The number one engine was functionally tested, and no discrepancies were noted during the engine run-up. Efforts to functionally test the number two engine were unsuccessful. However, the post examination of the power turbine kit revealed the elbow assembly was pierced allowing pressure control air to escape.
Probable cause
The pilot in-flight decision to land in a unsuitable landing area during a precautionary landing. A factor was the loss of power on the number two engine.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL05FA144
- Event ID
- 20050817X01268
- Case number
- ATL05FA144
- 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: c3ae22271c4c9ecd2ea23615021ecbd0be2d3a67f1e062dbbc872d34fb214dcf; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:29:20.367Z.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: destination. The narrative states "The helicopter departed the University Hospital helipad en route to Middleburg, Florida"; the recorded destination repeats the departure helipad.