WPR26LA146 · Bell Helicopter Textron 206L-1
Bell Helicopter Textron 206L-1 · Accident: dynamic rollover during takeoff
From Flying Y Ranch Airport (MT48) to Flying Y Ranch Airport (MT48)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR26LA146
- 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
- Event fatalities
- Unknown
- 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 Helicopter Textron 206L-1
- 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
- N5017G
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Flying Y Ranch Airport (MT48), Livingston, MTTo Flying Y Ranch Airport (MT48), Livingston, MT
- Aircraft age
- About 47 years (built 1979)
- 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
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- 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 and pilot-rated passenger were on a personal flight practicing off airport landings. After landing in an open meadow, the pilot elected to depart using a low altitude circling maneuver. The pilot stated the purpose of the maneuver was to gain effective translational lift. During the maneuver, as the helicopter accelerated, it began to descend, and the left skid contacted the terrain, resulting in a dynamic rollover. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, , main rotor system, tail rotor system, and empennage. The pilot stated that they received training in circling takeoff maneuvers during their commercial pilot training and had previously performed similar maneuvers. The pilot reported there were no pre-accident mechanical malfunctions or anomalies with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate clearance from the terrain while performing a low altitude circling takeoff maneuver, which resulted in a dynamic rollover.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR26LA146
- Event ID
- 20260406202757
- Case number
- WPR26LA146
- 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: 229bb0f32dbcff5fcd4fe9cb7756fac27247e7ec18e099c32bdf8a38446e4781; retrieved 2026-09-16T21:09:25.768Z.