A years-overdue inspection of a compressor in a Bell 206B-III factored into a 2021 crash that killed four people on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
The Caribbean Buzz helicopter was on a 17-minute sightseeing flight around St. Thomas on Feb. 15, 2021, when it lost engine power.
According to a witness, who was standing atop a nearby hill and recording video of the helicopter’s flight, the pilot flew out over the ocean and then began a 180-degree turn back toward land. The video showed a puff of dark smoke from an area near the engine compartment, and the helicopter “abruptly yawed nose-left, then yawed nose-right, and descended in a right turn over wooded terrain,” the NTSB said in its final report on the accident.
The 9,800-hour commercial pilot and her three passengers were killed, and the helicopter was destroyed.
The NTSB said the probable cause of the accident was the “total lo…
