Bell 206B accident near Galveston, TX
On February 7, 2017, a Bell 206B (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Galveston, TX. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- February 7, 2017
- Place
- Galveston, TX
- Aircraft
- Bell 206B · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 29.240°N, 94.991°W
- NTSB ID
- 20170207X10319
Official records · CEN17FA100
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn February 6, 2017, at 1906 central standard time, a Bell 206B-III, N978RH, impacted the waters of West Bay near Galveston, Texas. One passenger was fatally injured. The pilot and a second passenger were seriously injured. The helicopter was destroyed. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Republic Helicopters, Santa Fe, Texas, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 as a non-scheduled domestic passenger flight. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. Company flight following was being utilized. The flight originated from the oil tanker Eagle Vancouver, anchored in Galveston Bay, at 1837, and was en route to Republic's Helicopters, Inc., Heliport (2TE1), Santa Fe, Texas. According to the operator, this was the helicopter's third flight of the day. It departed 2TE1 at 1404 and flew to the Eagle Vancouver, landing at 1457. The pilot shut down and the two passengers, both employees of Societe Generalde Surveillance (SGS), disembarked and began their work on the tanker. The helicopter had originally been scheduled to depart at 1600 but was delayed. The helicopter finally took off at 1837. Official sunset was at 1802. It was scheduled to arrive at 2TE1 at 1910. The last radio communication Republic Helicopters Operations had with the helicopter was at 1906 when the pilot reported, "I have the lights of the shore." The helicopter was equipped with a GPS SkyRouter fast tracking system that reports the helicopter's position every 2 minutes. The last data point received from the GPS
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to recognize the flight had encountered instrument meteorological conditions at night, which resulted in an unrecognized descent and collision with water.
More accidents in TX
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Browse: Texas · 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.
