The pilot of a Bell 206L-3 was talking on his cell phone during a flight that ended when the helicopter slammed into ranchland near Ancho, New Mexico, U.S., on Sept. 16, 2017, killing the pilot and destroying the helicopter, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.
The NTSB said, in a report issued in July, that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s distraction by his cell phone during the low-altitude flight.1
The accident was one of several in recent years to be attributed to pilot distraction by a cell phone, laptop computer or other electronic device, and the NTSB has singled out distraction, not only in aviation but also in all other forms of transportation, as one of the areas in which it most wants to see corrective action.
In the case of the Bell 206, the day before the accident, the helicopter, registered to LIN Television in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S., and operated by television station KRQE² in Albuquerque, New Mexico…
