WPR14CA052 · Bell 206B B
Timberland Helicopters Bell 206B B · Accident: controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT) en route
From Roseburg Regional Airport (RBG) to Roseburg Regional Airport (RBG)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR14CA052
- 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 206B B
- 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
- N16673
- Operator
- Timberland Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Roseburg Regional Airport (RBG), Roseburg, ORTo Roseburg Regional Airport (RBG), Roseburg, OR
- Aircraft age
- About 37 years (built 1976)
- 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
- En route · 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)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was for the two passengers, who were both biologists, to conduct a low-level river/land survey. Prior to departure, the pilot discussed the route of flight with the passengers and they all reviewed the maps and sectionals for possible hazards with an emphasis on wire crossings. After departure, the pilot attempted to facilitate the biologists' view out the windows by maneuvering the helicopter in a crab angle with the flight path tracking down the riverbank and the nose pointing left. The pilot maintained an altitude just above tree-top level and about an hour into the flight the pilot observed the first high power line crossing. Approximately 20 minutes thereafter, one of the passengers called attention to another line crossing, which was equipped with marker balls.
The pilot stated that as they continued, the river divided into numerous channels and one of the passengers advised him which path to follow. After surveying one of the channels, he maneuvered the helicopter in a 90-degree turn to circle back and then it was decided they did not need to return to the channel's origin. The pilot then made a left turn to adjoin the river and immediately observed blue sparks and a wire contact on the upper windscreen bubble. The helicopter was substantially damaged after it descended and came to rest in 4.5 feet of water about 50 feet from the power line.
The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to see and avoid wires while maneuvering at a low-altitude, which resulted in the main rotor blades striking the wires.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR14CA052
- Event ID
- 20131113X11809
- Case number
- WPR14CA052
- 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: 747493d5862be21abd00e8e53fa08870c2f47fcabb724b9dcd0b36b2ce7dae59; retrieved 2026-09-15T23:06:07.150Z.