Skip to content

WPR20CA171

2020-06-04 · Murphy, Idaho, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a power line while maneuvering during an aerial application flight.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that during the aerial application flight, while maneuvering at low altitude, he came upon some trees and increased altitude to climbed above the treetops. He did not see that there were power lines behind the trees and did not have enough time to avoid colliding with two of the lines. The pilot was unable to maintain control of the helicopter descended in a slow spin to ground impact. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and tail boom. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Wire-Effect on operation
  • — Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring environment-Pilot

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_WPR20CA171.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type. All research papers