LAX08CA018 · Bell 206L-1
Bell 206L-1 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Ramona Airport (RNM) to Ramona Airport (RNM)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX08CA018
- 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 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
- N412KK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ramona Airport (RNM), Ramona, CATo Ramona Airport (RNM), Ramona, CA
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Descent, not corrected
- Pilot in command › Loss of tail rotor effectiveness, not corrected
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 was flying at 100 feet agl and between 40 and 60 knots to assess damage to utility equipment from a recent wild fire in the area. While rolling out of a turn at 100 feet agl, the pilot noticed a reduction in airspeed. He said that he felt resistance on the controls as he applied forward cyclic and raised the collective in attempt to regain the desired airspeed and altitude. The helicopter responded by assuming a nose-high attitude. The pilot stated that a high power setting was needed to maintain altitude. The helicopter started to yaw to the right, which the pilot opined was due to the onset of loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE). He reduced power to counteract the LTE and the helicopter started to descend. The pilot decided to execute a precautionary landing. During the landing, the helicopter impacted trees and came to rest on it's left side. An FAA inspector responded to the accident site, examined the wreckage, and noted no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter or the control system.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain control and correct a descent and a loss of tail rotor effectiveness while maneuvering at a low altitude and reduced airspeed.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX08CA018
- Event ID
- 20071127X01859
- Case number
- LAX08CA018
- 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, 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: a9b3c1f94554091caecaf0b214f765eadfc923c50207bed93427702eed2d4c22; retrieved 2026-09-22T03:18:56.988Z.