American Eurocopter AS350 accident near Pioche, NV
On July 29, 2020, an American Eurocopter AS350 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Pioche, NV. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- July 29, 2020
- Place
- Pioche, NV
- Aircraft
- American Eurocopter AS350 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 37.920°N, 114.540°W
- NTSB ID
- 20200729X52602
Official records · WPR20LA244
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn July 29, 2020, about 1000 Pacific daylight time, an American Eurocopter Corp. AS350B3 helicopter, N755AE, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Pioche, Nevada. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 positioning flight. The pilot landed the helicopter in mountainous terrain in order to survey a job site. The purpose of the accident flight was to reposition the helicopter to the nearby fuel truck to refuel before beginning external load operations. A witness reported that he dropped the pilot and passenger at the helicopter before the accident flight and saw a cable that was laid out on the ground in front of the helicopter. The pilot stated to him that the cable was 70 feet long. The witness left the pilot and passenger at the helicopter and drove away; shortly thereafter, he received a phone call about smoke in the vicinity and learned that the helicopter had crashed. The helicopter came to rest in heavily treed terrain on its right side. There was no evidence of a postimpact fire. The helicopter was equipped with a long line cargo hook system. About 21 ft of steel long line cable impacted the main rotor blades and was found entangled in the separated tail rotor. (see Figure 1.) The separated cable end exhibited a broomstrawed appearance and evidence of red paint transfer. Figure 1. Photo of tail rotor wrapped with cable One tail rotor blade remained attached to the tail rotor; the other blade was not located. The tail boom was broken off and parti
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain altitude from terrain and subsequent loss of helicopter control due to entanglement of the external load cable with the tail rotor.
More accidents in NV
- Cessna 425, Jan 12, 1992
- Cessna TU206G, Dec 7, 1986
- Beech A36TC, Dec 25, 2003
- Cessna T21OL, Mar 1, 1982
- Pilatus PC-12/45, Feb 25, 2023
Browse: Nevada
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
