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CEN09WA529 · Bell 412 EP

7 Aug 2009 · Manzanillo, Mexico

Bell 412 EP · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) en route

From Manzanillo to Guadalajara

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Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's aircraft involved. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.

Event

NTSB case
CEN09WA529
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
Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
API-reported fatalities
2 · 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
Not recorded

Bell 412 EP Possible conflict

Aircraft type
Bell 412
Category
Helicopter · from aircraft type
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
XA-HSH
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From ManzanilloTo Guadalajara
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
Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
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
En route · climb to cruise
Defining eventThe 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
Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

On August 7, 2009 a Bell Helicopter model 212 was destroyed when it impacted the ground in low visibility mountainous terrain. The pilot and on board mechanic were killed. The helicopter is located near a mountain top and is not accessible. When to helicopter is recovered the investigation will continue and advisors from the manufacture will travel to assist in the investigation.

The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the Government of Mexico. This report is for information purposes only and contains only information released by the Government of Mexico. Further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from:

Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) Direccion General de Aeronutica Civil (DGAC) Col. san Juan de Arrgon, 3-seccion Del. Venustiano Carrabza Mexico, D.F, Mexico c.p. 15620 Telephone: 55-2598-0138

Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CEN09WA529
Event ID
20090818X85151
Case number
CEN09WA529
Dataset
full-current
Source SHA-256
5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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.
  • No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: f4b22676c572567a4b8ff191606b8b305b9357cc3319ffea0a02f24fbd2858fb; retrieved 2026-09-13T20:25:52.995Z.