N254DM

On May 6, 2023, about 1600 central daylight time, an Airbus Helicopters EC-130T2 helicopter, N254DM, sustained no damage when it was involved in an accident near Carta Valley, Texas. The pilot and two passengers sustained no injuries, and one passenger sustained serious injuries. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 aerial observation flight.

The purpose of the low-level flight was to perform aerial hunting of wild pigs. The pilot, an independent contractor, was in the front center seat. The helicopter-pilot-rated owner of the ranch, who was also the owner of the helicopter, was in the front left seat as a passenger. Another helicopter-pilot-rated passenger, who was also an independent contractor, was in the left rear seat. Another passenger, who was a friend of the ranch owner’s son who had previously flown in the helicopter and who had previously participated in aerial hunting, was in the right rear seat. The two independent contractors were hired by the ranch owner to operate the helicopter. The two rear-seat passengers were participating in aerial hunting. All four occupants were using Bose A20 aviation headsets for the flight and were reportedly in proper working condition.

Just before departure about 1500, the passengers were briefed by the pilot on various safety topics. These safety topics included the use and operation of the restraint systems, how to exit the helicopter during an emergency, main rotor blade safety when hunting, and several other safety topics. Before the flight, the two cabin doors were locked in the open position to facilitate hunting. The left rear-seat passenger performed a final walk-around inspection of the helicopter with no issues noted.

The helicopter departed from the Mafrige Ranch Airport (2TA9), Carta Valley, Texas, and began the low-level aerial hunting work. 2TA9 is located on the Rancho Bellas Rocas. During the flight, after a period of hunting, the pilot brought the helicopter to an out-of-ground effect hover, about 50 ft agl. During this time, the pilot assessed that the helicopter needed to be refueled back at 2TA9. The helicopter was slowly moving forward during the hover when the right rear-seat passenger departed from the helicopter. The left rear-seat passenger observed this sequence from the “corner of his eye.” As he was turning his head to the right, he observed the right rear-seat passenger depart from the cabin. At the time of the departure, the right rear-seat passenger was facing forward in the cabin. The right rear-seat passenger then turned his body about 90° to the right facing outwards from the cabin, he stepped on the pedestal mounted on the right skid, he stood up, and then he took a step forward. The right rear-seat passenger had his headset on and was holding his shotgun when he departed the helicopter.

The left rear-seat passenger immediately notified the pilot about what he observed. The pilot maneuvered the helicopter to the right and landed to the south of where the passenger came to rest on the ground. The passenger was found unconscious with serious injuries, and he was breathing. The shotgun was found in multiple pieces on the ground next to him. The injured passenger was loaded onto the helicopter, both cabin doors were closed, and the helicopter departed for 2TA9. While the helicopter was being refueled at 2TA9, the pilot contacted emergency services via cellular phone. The emergency services operator reported to the pilot that their response time would be “extremely lengthy.” The pilot opted to fly the rear right passenger directly to the hospital to provide quicker access for medical treatment.

The injured passenger was in the right rear seat for the entire accident flight until he departed the helicopter. That seat was equipped with a four-point restraint system. The injured passenger used the lap portion of the restraint system for the flight. After he departed the helicopter, the buckle on the lap portion was found disconnected. The injured passenger was not using an additional harness for the aerial hunting work, nor was he required to. During the flight, the injured passenger was “quiet” and did not do or say anything abnormal.

The helicopter owner reported that while in the out-of-ground effect hover, the passenger who departed the helicopter may have thought the helicopter was near the ground when he decided to depart the helicopter, believing the helicopter was closer to the ground than it was.

The helicopter owner reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or the engine that would have precluded normal operation. Postaccident examination of the right rear seat and restraint system did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Postaccident download of the accident flight engine data showed normal engine performance.

Ethanol testing of a serum specimen that the hospital collected from the injured passenger at 1842 on the day of the accident detected ethanol at 0.067 g/dL. Ethanol is the intoxicating alcohol in beer, wine, and liquor, and, if consumed, can impair judgment, psychomotor performance, cognition, and vigilance. Detrimental cognitive effects may occur at blood ethanol levels as low as 0.02 g/dL, and a person generally will experience increasingly greater impairment at increasingly higher blood ethanol levels.

While 14 CFR Part 91.17(b) prohibits pilots from carrying passengers who appear intoxicated, the passenger did not seem to be intoxicated per the owner’s attorney.

The injured passenger did not provide a statement to the NTSB.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has published the Ecology and Management of Wild Pigs, which classifies wild pigs as an exotic invasive species. This document discusses the aerial hunting of wild pigs and states in part:

Shooting wild pigs while flying in fixed wing or rotary aircrafts is often referred to as aerial gunning. Aerial gunning is a highly effective means of quickly reducing wild pig populations in areas with large expanses of sparse canopy cover and high densities of wild pigs.