ERA11LA175 · Bell 206-L4
Omniflight Helicopters Bell 206-L4 · Accident: loss of engine power (total) on approach
From Carraway Medical Center Heliport (AL49) to Carraway Medical Center Heliport (AL49)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA11LA175
- 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 206-L4
- 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
- N154MW
- Operator
- Omniflight Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Carraway Medical Center Heliport (AL49), Birmingham, ALTo Carraway Medical Center Heliport (AL49), Birmingham, AL
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern base
- 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
- Loss of engine power (total)
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
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 pilot reported that, following a maintenance test flight to verify that a newly installed power turbine governor was accurately set, he flew over the anticipated landing area and entered the downwind leg of the traffic pattern. While turning to the base leg of the traffic pattern, about 500 feet above ground level and at 40 to 50 knots, he reported that he heard a loud bang and that the airframe “lurched.” He entered an autorotation and located a vacant parking garage deck within gliding range. The engine-out audio warning sounded and segment lights illuminated. The pilot landed the helicopter and it skidded about 15 feet. A test run determined that the engine operated below the normal specifications for new engines. The pneumatic line from the power turbine governor was found to be leaking and was removed and sent to the NTSB's Materials Laboratory for further examination. That examination revealed superficial longitudinal tool marks that did not extend to the interior surfaces of the flared ends. The interior surface of the flared ends exhibited some localized fretting damage on one side, consistent with damage that could have been caused by inadequate torque at the connection; however, no other anomalies were noted. According to the engine manufacturer, the leak would not have caused the engine to operate below the normal specification. The postaccident examination revealed no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
A total loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA11LA175
- Event ID
- 20110303X04000
- Case number
- ERA11LA175
- 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.
- 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: 26a4794507c5c2c6874dc8a200b48914df6e3244879e531a85cb40f1542ef316; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:52:36.212Z.