Three Fatalities When US Air Ambulance Helicopter Struck Goose at Night (Air Evac B206L3+ N295AE)
On 20 January 2024, at 23:23 Local Time, Bell 206L3+ air ambulance N295AE of Air Evac Lifeteam was destroyed in an accident near Hydro, Oklahoma. The three occupants, the pilot, flight nurse, and flight paramedic were all fatally injured.
Wreckage of Air Evac Bell 206L3+ N295AE after birdstrike near Hydro, OK (Credit: NTSB)
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated in their safety investigation report, issued on 19 March 2025, that having dropped off a patient at the Mercy Health Center Heliport, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma:
The helicopter was en route back to the crew’s home airfield [Weatherford, Oklahoma] when it encountered a flock of geese during the night flight. The helicopter was in cruise flight about 500-600 ft above ground level and at 110 knots groundspeed when the encounter occurred.
The bird strike resulted in an inflight breakup of the helicopter and subsequent impact with terrain.
The debris field was about 265 yards long and 455 yards wide.
Bird remains were recovered from the area of the cockpit, tail rotor and pitch links. Samples were sent to the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Laboratory. These were identified as cackling goose (Branta hutchinsii), which until 2004 was treated as a subset of the canada goose family (at which time the four smallest sub-species were reclassified). DNA testing confirmed the remains were consistent with female cackling geese, which have an average mass of 2 kg. At least two birds were involved (as three feet were found within the debris).
Following the accident, the operator revised their General Operational Manual and pre flight risk assessment form:
They encouraged all pilots to review bird migration tracking websites before flight, increased the recommended cruise altitude to 2,500 ft above ground level in areas of potential bird activity, and moved the recommended approach to land/descent airspeed to around 80-90 knots versus descending at cruise airspeed.
Interestingly, despite encouraging use of bird migration data, NTSB also reported that:
Preflight mission planning for the flight would likely not have detected a risk for a bird strike. A review of military and civilian bird hazard websites showed that at the time of the accident, the probability of bird strike in that area was deemed to be low. In addition, historic migration data also estimated the probability of a bird strike at the time of the accident as low.
Our Safety Observations
The actions taken after the accident all appear to be foreseeable safety improvements that have been foreshadowed by prior bird strike accidents.
NTSB do however note that to the operator’s credit the helicopter had been modified via a Supplemental Type Certificate to replace the pilot-side windshield with a polycarbonate kit “that offered increased resistance to windshield penetration by a bird strike”. The specific product is not identified but an example can be found here. NTSB do not comment further but the STC windscreens would be unlikely to be cleared for a 2 kg bird like a female crackling goose as even FAR 29.631 for the windscreens of larger rotorcraft is only a 1 kg test requirement.
Safety Resources
On 3 October 2023, the FAA released Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) AIR-21-17R1 Rotorcraft Bird Strike Protection and Mitigation, to inform pilots about the risk of bird strikes.
The European Safety Promotion Network Rotorcraft (ESPN-R) has a helicopter safety discussion group on LinkedIn. You may also find these Aerossurance articles of interest:
- Safety Lessons from a Fatal Helicopter Bird Strike: A fatal accident occurred on 4 Jan 2009 involving Sikorsky S-76C++ N748P of PHI that highlighted a range safety lessons. We also discuss current activity on enhancing bird strike requirements.
- USAF HH-60G Downed by Geese in Norfolk, 7 January 2014
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- Power of Prediction: Foresight and Flocking Birds looks at how a double engine loss due to striking Canada Geese had been predicted 8 years before the US Airways Flight 1549 ditching in the Hudson (which was just days after the Louisiana helicopter accident).
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- Dusk Duck: Birdstrike During Air Ambulance Flight
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