- Date
- April 13, 1983, 11:15 local (16:15 UTC)
- Place
- Charleston, WV
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N4749RBell 47G-4A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830413014049A
- Case key
- 6050
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During an approach to land, the engine lost power at aprx 500 ft AGL. The plt reported that during an autorotative landing, he had to maneuver to avoid trees & a ridge in order to land in a suitable area. During this time, rotor RPM dropped & a crash landing occurred. A teardown of the engine revealed that the timing gear, pn 67687, had failed & a tooth had separated. Also, the woodruff key, pn STD-858, had failed. A metalurgical examination revealed evidence of fatigue on both parts. Failure of the timing gear originated at an inner corner or the gear keyway. The engine had accumulated 613 hrs of flt time since major overhaul.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4749R
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-4A
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7650
- Airframe hours
- 4,123
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-540-B1B3, 280 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Operator
- Appalachian Power Company
- Registered owner
- Cincinnati Airways, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · August 12, 1982 · 613 hours before
- Departed
- Roanoke, VA
- Airport
- CRW · Kanawha, runway 33, 4,750 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,570 total · 639 in this make and model · 4,474 as pilot in command · 263 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CRW
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.