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NTSB Investigating Bell 407 Accident Near Las Vegas

An air medical helicopter registered as N404LL sustained substantial damage in a December 15 accident; the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 10:41 a.m. ET
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an accident involving a helicopter near Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 15, 2025, at about a.m. local time, according to the accident record. The matter is developing and details remain limited. The accident record identifies the aircraft as , operated by , and lists it as having sustained substantial damage. The record classifies the flight as a Part 135 commuter or on-demand operation. It does not list injury counts, which is usual for a preliminary filing. The cause has not been determined; the NTSB investigation is open. Aircraft registry records list as a , a single-engine turboprop helicopter with an Allison 250-C47 engine, serial number 53446, built in 2000 and 25 years old at the time of the accident. The registry lists the operator of record and registered owner as Rocky Mountain Holdings LLC; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator of the flight, the pilot, or otherwise connected to it. Corporate filings and industry publications describe Rocky Mountain Holdings, L.L.C. as a Delaware limited liability company providing air medical transport and a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Methods Corporation, which acquired 100% of its membership interests in 2002, with a principal address at 5500 South Quebec Street, Greenwood Village, Colorado. This is background on the owner of record and says nothing about this accident. Weather observed at North Las Vegas Airport (KVGT), 3.8 miles from the reference point for Las Vegas and 25 minutes from the reported time, recorded wind from 330 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, clear skies and 60°F. Those are instrument readings and are not a stated factor in the accident. Geographic reference data places Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada, at a settlement elevation of 2,034 feet; that figure describes the city, not the accident site, which the record does not locate more precisely. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 96 other cases involving the , of which 27 involved a fatality. That count is not a safety rate and says nothing about the cause of this accident.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N404LL
Type
Bell 407 — single-engine turboprop helicopter
Engines
ALLISON 250-C47
Built
2000-01-01 (25 years old)
Operator of record
Rocky Mountain Holdings
Registered owner
Rocky Mountain Holdings LlcThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
2,034 ft
Nearest aerodrome
3.8 miles SE of North Las Vegas Airport (KVGT/VGT)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 14:41current

    Corrected the elevation figure to describe the settlement rather than the accident site, and clarified that the geographic data is geocoded from the place name.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 19:12

    First published.

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