Two separate fatal New Mexico helicopter crashes in 2017 and 2018 were the result of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) in areas of rising terrain, according to the NTSB.
The first occurred on September 16, 2017, when a 1989 Bell 206 L3 operated by KQRE TV of Albuquerque crashed in Ancho during daylight VFR with reported visibility of 10 miles on a flight from Roswell to its home base. A flight plan was not filed. Pilot/reporter Bob Martin, the sole occupant, was killed. Data from the helicopter’s GPS unit indicated that the helicopter was flying at altitudes between 6,200 and 6,456 feet msl shortly before it hit terrain described as “ranch land” at an elevation of 6,330 feet. The NTSB described the impact as “slight, nose low” creating a 300-foot long wreckage path “indicative of controlled flight into terrain.” While much of the wreckage was consumed by a post-crash fire, the NTSB said it did not find any evidence to suggest a mechanical failure.
Twenty-three minutes before the crash, the pilot initiated a cell phone call to a car rental agency, the NTSB's final report stated, adding that the employee who took the call thought the pilot seemed “busy or distracted.” The call lasted one minute, forty-seven seconds, with the car rental employee reporting it was cut off mid-sentence. The pilot held a second class medical with near vision limitation, had a total of 8,800 flight hours, and held a variety of ratings including commercial rotorcraft and rotorcraft certified flight instructor. He had flown 150 hours in the six months prior to the accident. The NTSB concluded that the probable cause of the accident was “the pilot’s distraction by a cell-phone during low-altitude flight, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.”
On January 17, 2018, a privately owned 1969 Bell UH-1H crashed in an area of rising terrain and was consumed by a post-impact fire during a night VFR flight from Raton, New Mexico, to Folsom, New Mexico, killing five of six aboard including both the pilot and a pilot-rated passenger. The surviving passenger reported hearing a loud bang as the helicopter hit the ground in level flight. The helicopter then rolled forward and came to rest upside down. She was able to get out of the helicopter before it exploded and called 911. The pilot flying initially survived but died en route to the hospital. Before he died the pilot told a witness that the accident was his fault and that he had flown into terrain.
The NTSB described the crash site as “unpopulated ranchland grass and sparse, low brush." Imagery showed “a reduced amount of visual terrain features in the area of the accident during night conditions and there were no sources of ground lighting or illumination in the vicinity,” the Board added. The wreckage was located on a near-level mesa that rose 100 feet above the surrounding mountainous terrain. Post-accident investigation revealed no abnormalities with the helicopter.
Toxicology tests performed on the pilot found a therapeutic amount of diphenhydramine in his blood, “which likely impaired him to some degree,” according to the NTSB. But the agency could not determine “if psychomotor slowing from the diphenhydramine contributed to his inability to recognize and/or avoid the terrain.” The drug, marketed under the name Benadryl, is a popular antihistamine, which may impair mental and physical abilities.
In its final report on the accident, the NTSB cited an FAA Advisory Circular (AC 61-134) that deals with CFIT awareness. The AC notes that during night conditions, height above terrain can be misperceived by even experienced pilots, leading to CFIT. The 57-year-old pilot in this accident held a helicopter instrument rating and had reported 6,416 total hours of flight time. The pilot-rated passenger, 67, held a helicopter rating and reported 3,140 total hours of flight time. The NTSB found the probable cause of the accident to be “the pilot’s failure to maintain adequate altitude above mountainous terrain during cruise flight in dark night conditions, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.”