Bell 205A1 accident near Leavenworth, WA
On August 11, 2004, a Bell 205A1 (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Leavenworth, WA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 11, 2004
- Place
- Leavenworth, WA
- Aircraft
- Bell 205A1 · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 47.650°N, 121.042°W
- NTSB ID
- 20040816X01225
NTSB summary
On August 11, 2004, approximately 1025 Pacific daylight time, a Bell 205A1 helicopter, N205XP, was destroyed when it impacted heavily wooded, mountainous terrain approximately 20 miles northwest of Leavenworth, Washington. Prior to the impact, the helicopter's tail rotor struck a tree and aircraft control was lost while hovering out of ground effect with an external load. The commercial pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured. The helicopter was operated by Shasta Aviation Corporation dba Crescent Helicopters under contract to the United States Forest Service (USFS). The purpose of the public use flight conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 133 was to ferry supplies to a firefighting crew in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area located in the Cascade Mountain Range. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a company flight plan was filed. The flight departed from the USFS Leavenworth helibase (Fromme Field) approximately 0955. Personnel with the USFS conducted witness interviews, examined the accident site, and prepared a summary report of their observations. According to the USFS report, on the afternoon of August 10, 2004, eight smoke jumpers parachuted into a drainage approximately 1/2 mile down stream of a small lightning fire called INC.698. Some of the jumpers were assigned to INC.698 and some were assigned to INC.697, another small lightning fire in the area. In the evening, the smoke jumpers requested that equipment be longlined into a drop zone (DZ) they selected near INC.698 along the stream bed. The jumpers estimated the trees in the drainage were an average
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the snag while hovering out of ground effect during an external load operation. Factors were the smoke jumper's misjudgment of the tree heights in the area, which resulted in the use of too short a long line, and their failure to communicate with the pilot about the tall snag.
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Browse: Washington · 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.
