Bell 206 N5013G accident near Coconut Creek, Florida

Probable cause

The pilot’s inadequate fuel planning, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to recognize the illumination of the low-fuel caution light.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was performing an external load flight in the helicopter and stated he checked "fuel status and aircraft systems" before hovering a load into position out of ground effect. At that time, the fuel gauge indicated between 65 and 70 lbs of fuel remained, and he estimated he had about 10 to 15 minutes of operational time remaining to complete the load. The pilot was focused on hovering the helicopter to maintain a 4-ft load height during load delivery when the engine lost power. He maneuvered the helicopter into the wind and away from the ground crew for the forced landing and made a full collective application before entering trees. The helicopter came to rest upright with substantial damage to the fuselage and tailboom.

Examination at the accident site found no fuel in the helicopter’s fuel system. When power was applied to the helicopter at the accident site, the fuel gauge indicated 40 lbs, and the low-fuel caution light illuminated.

Following recovery, the helicopter was serviced with fuel, and the fuel system worked as designed with no leaks. The engine was started and run with no anomalies noted. The fuel quantity indicator showed 40 lbs above the actual quantity throughout fueling and defueling testing. It could not be determined if the 40-pound discrepancy was due to an out-of-calibration condition pre-accident or to impact forces. The low-fuel caution light, which operated independently of the fuel quantity indicating system, extinguished and illuminated properly during testing. It is likely the light illuminated during the accident flight but was not seen by the pilot due to his attention being outside the helicopter while hovering and maneuvering the load into position.

Examination of aircraft and fueling records revealed that the fuel consumption rate of the helicopter over the 4 hours before the accident was about 38 gallons per hour, which was consistent with the helicopter’s mission profiles during that time period of both cruise flight and hover out-of-ground-effect external load operations. The accident is consistent with the pilot inadequately planning for the fuel required to complete the flight, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA20LA229 for the full record.