Rotorcraft Leasing Bell 206-L4 accident
Bell 206-L4 · Accident: dynamic rollover during takeoff
From Omni Mouton Cove Heliport (18LS) to Ship Shoal 150C, GM
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN23LA064
- 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
- 0
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
- N414RL
- Operator
- Rotorcraft Leasing
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Omni Mouton Cove Heliport (18LS), Abbeville, LATo Ship Shoal 150C, GM
- Aircraft age
- About 30 years (built 1992)
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Dynamic rollover
- 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
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 reported that on approach to the offshore oil platform the wind was gusting from the north. During approach to the helideck, he turned the nose of the helicopter to the northeast, so the disembarking passengers were near the stairway. Later, as he attempted to takeoff, the front skids lifted off the helideck and the wind from the north pushed against the helicopter. The skids became stuck on the helideck and the helicopter rolled over. The pilot was unable to regain control of the helicopter as it continued to roll off the helideck. During the uncontrolled descent, the pilot activated the emergency floats and the helicopter impacted the water. The occupants egressed the helicopter and were rescued from the water. Photos of the helideck revealed the metal safety skirting was damaged and partially separated. The operator’s chief pilot stated to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector that the pilot stated he made his approach from the south and terminated to a hover, rotated the nose right 45° which put the helideck stairs off the right side of the helicopter’s nose. During the subsequent takeoff, the aft right skid of helicopter likely contacted the helideck and helideck light, which resulted in dynamic rollover. He also reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. The operator’s General Operating Manual (GOM) states that platform takeoffs should always begin from a stabilized hover and as into the wind as much as possible. Postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed damage and witness marks to the aft right skid and did not reveal any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that the pilot’s improper takeoff technique allowed the helicopter to drift toward the helideck light, then when the skid contacted the light, that acted as a pivot point and resulted in dynamic rollover.
Probable cause
The pilot’s improper takeoff technique that allowed the helicopter skid to drift into a helideck light, resulting in a dynamic rollover.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN23LA064
- Event ID
- 20221215106462
- Case number
- CEN23LA064
- 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, cause areas. 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: 370915ea9ded44ab675b5dea54cfa11d8c45753f927ccd6935ee52c183647a21; retrieved 2026-09-16T16:35:02.373Z.