N16915

On August 18, 1995, about 0800 eastern daylight time, a Bell 206B, helicopter, N16915, operated by Helicopter Transport Services Inc., was destroyed when it rolled over during landing near Bingham, Maine. The commercial pilot received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the aerial application flight. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 137.

In the NTSB form 6120.1/2, the pilot stated:

On landing at loading site, the left skid touched down normally. Then the aircraft rolled hard right. The right skid and boom hit the ground, and in attempting to stop a roll over there was a bang followed by control feedback (cyclic) and rotation to the right. Control was not regained before impacting trees.

Additionally, the pilot did not report any mechanical malfunctions or failures.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector stated:

...From an eye witness, it was stated...the pilot on his first two landings came in high and fast. His flare also appeared to be abnormal. It was...thought that there may be mechanical problems, but this thought was erased when the aircraft took off after reloading. On the third return to the landing area, the helicopter was observed to have hit hard on the left skid, bounced forward and hit hard on the right skid. Observation of the landing area confirmed this finding. It was noted that the left skid shoe dug a deep groove in the hard packed gravel.

...Investigation of the wreckage at the crash site by the FAA and a Bell Helicopter Textron accident investigator yielded no mechanical or structural failure findings....The collective stick and the three hydraulic servos were shipped to Bell Helicopter Textron in Dallas, Texas for metallurgical testing and functional testing. The servos were found to be functional with no discrepancies noted....The collective stick was broken to the left and downward in a tension overload condition.