Bell UH-1H accident near Waynesville, NC
On September 7, 2000, a Bell UH-1H (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Waynesville, NC. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 7, 2000
- Place
- Waynesville, NC
- Aircraft
- Bell UH-1H · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 35.438°N, 83.061°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001212X22031
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On September 7, 2000, about 0905 eastern daylight time, a Bell UH-1H, N525BM, registered to the USDA Forest Service, operated by the North Carolina Forest Service as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 positioning flight, crashed while maneuvering in the vicinity of Waynesville, North Carolina. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The rotorcraft was destroyed, and the commercially rated pilot and a crew chief sustained fatal injuries. The flight departed Macon County Airport, Franklin, North Carolina, under Forestry Service flight following about 0840. The same pilot, crewman, and rotorcraft, had spent the previous day at the same location displaying the machine and its onboard fire fighting equipment as part of a 2-day Conservation Day display for Haywood County fifth-grade students. Although the North Carolina Forest Service normally operates their fire-fighting aircraft as strickly "public use", the positioning to a static display would have been performed under the provisions of Federal Air Regulations, Part 91. According to a Haywood County forest ranger located at the Haywood County Mountain Research Station, Waynesville, who was securing the landing zone, (LZ) for the rotorcraft's arrival, at about 0900, the pilot advised by radio that he was 5 minutes from landing, following highway 23-74 inbound from the southwest, but that ground fog was precluding his progress, and that he would look for a place to land until the fog lifted. The pilot asked for the weather conditions at the LZ and was given, ceiling, 500 to 1,000 feet
Probable cause
An in-flight encounter with ground level fog due to the pilot's decision to continue VMC flight into instrument conditions, resulting in an in-flight collision with trees.
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Browse: North Carolina · Bell aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
