WPR13FA208 · Bell 206B
Bell 206B · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) while maneuvering
From Worden, MT to Shepherd, MT
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR13FA208
- 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
- 1 · 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 206B
- 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
- N150SP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Worden, MTTo Shepherd, MT
- Aircraft age
- About 36 years (built 1977)
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- Wire
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Physical
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot was maneuvering at low altitude during cattle herding operations. The helicopter collided with power lines and subsequently impacted terrain. Power lines were found wrapped around the main rotor mast about 25 times. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
A small amount of acute blood was found in the left ventricle of the pilot's brain, but no significant traumatic injuries were found; thus, it is likely the hemorrhage occurred during an acute premortem event. Given the autopsy findings and that the pilot knew the flying area well and would have likely known where the power lines were located, it is likely that he was impaired or incapacitated by an acute neurologic event in the seconds before impact with the power lines.
Probable cause
The pilot’s loss of control while maneuvering during low-altitude operations due to sudden neurological impairment or incapacitation and the helicopter’s subsequent collision with power lines.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR13FA208
- Event ID
- 20130427X30522
- Case number
- WPR13FA208
- 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. 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: a864a7b017e41cd22862b2dcd346b3bce5f295e1b1de374b157068166609a5c7; retrieved 2026-09-14T15:56:00.253Z.