Landells Aviation Bell Helicopter 206BIII accident
Bell Helicopter 206BIII · Accident: in flight collision with object while maneuvering
From KPVT · Porterville, CA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX07CA072
- 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 Helicopter 206BIII
- 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
- N185BC
- Operator
- Landells Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From KPVT · Porterville, CATo 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 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
- 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 object
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
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 collided with trees and terrain while maneuvering at low altitude in mountainous terrain. The pilot reported that he and two observation crewmembers were flying a mission for a state agency involving the aerial capture and radio collaring of deer in mountainous terrain, where the helicopter was required to be flown slightly above the tree tops. While they were looking for animals, the pilot flew toward the steep side of a north facing ridge and started flying a grid search pattern. At midslope, on an easterly heading, the pilot turned right facing upslope and into the sun. After completing the turn he maneuvered the helicopter into the shadow of the ridge, and then realized that there was not enough room to maneuver due to the proximity of the tree tops. The pilot attempted to slow the helicopter before the nose and main rotor contacted the trees. The helicopter came to rest on its right side, facing uphill. The main rotor hub and blades were located approximately 12 feet in front and to the right of the helicopter.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain terrain/obstacle clearance while maneuvering. Factors were the mountainous terrain, trees, and low-altitude flight maneuvers.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX07CA072
- Event ID
- 20070205X00136
- Case number
- LAX07CA072
- 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: ef23fa18c0b1890fac60b3ff89704c6c84b65d5f214eb954d91a91a68e5bc1b6; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:47:48.136Z.
- The NTSB's operator name is blank for N185BC; the operator shown is the name the NTSB records it doing business as.