Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Intracoastl Cty, Louisiana 70510
Sunday, June 1, 1997 11:25 CDT

N115AL, a Bell 206B helicopter, and N2773A, a Bell 206L-1 helicopter, collided in midair approximately 3 nm west of Intracoastal City, Louisiana. N2773A was in cruise flight, transiting through the Intracoastal City traffic advisory area from northeast to southwest. N115AL departed Intracoastal City westbound. Radar data indicated that the angle between the flight paths was about 60 degrees. The pilot of N115AL reported that he had just leveled out at 700 feet agl when he saw N2773A to his right at a 'slightly' lower altitude and banked hard left. A witness and physical evidence indicated that the main rotor blades of N115AL struck the tail rotor of N2773A. N2773A was not observed to take evasive action. Subsequently, N2773A impacted the ground in an uncontrolled descent, and N115AL made a forced landing in a slough and sank. Prior to departure, the pilot of N115AL communicated his intentions on the local traffic advisory frequency. There were no radio communications from N2773A on the advisory frequency, and the operator of N2773A did not include the use of traffic advisory services as a company standard operating procedure in its operations manual.

The failure of both pilots to see and avoid each other's aircraft. Factors were the failure of the pilot of N2773A to use the available traffic advisory service and the failure of the operator of N2773A to make the use of traffic advisory services a company standard operating procedure.