NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CHI93LA208
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot-in-command's failure to maintain clearance from a tree during an aerial application manuever.
Factual narrative
On June 15, 1993, about 0730 central daylight time, a Hughes 269 helicopter, N213MS, sustained substantial damage when it collided with a tree and terrain near Valley City, North Dakota. The commercial certificated pilot, the sole occupant, was not injured. The aerial application flight operated without flight plan under 14 CFR Part 137 in visual meteorological conditions. The pilot reported he was flying slowly uphill from a ravine bottom while applying a herbicide. He was applying the herbicide near an isolated tree when he inadvertently allowed the main rotor blades to strike a tree branch. The helicopter descended uncontrollably and collided with terrain. THE PILOT REPORTED HE WAS APPLYING HERBICIDE WITH THE HELICOPTER ON SLOPING TERRAIN WITH AN ISOLATED TREE NEARBY. HE APPROACHED THE TREE TO APPLY HERBICIDE AND INADVERTENTLY STRUCK A TREE BRANCH WITH THE MAIN ROTOR BLADE. THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE HELICOPTER AND IT CRASHED IN THE FIELD ADJACENT TO THE TREE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1993_CHI93LA208.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
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