- Date
- July 26, 1983, 16:45 local (20:45 UTC)
- Place
- Nr Gatlinburg, TN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N5733MBell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830726038139A
- Case key
- 6140
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
The plt reported that he was beginning his apch to a landing site at an elevation of 5200 ft when he felt a bump in the tail rotor pedals. The helicopter begun to spin to the right & the plt found he has no tail rotor control. An autorotative landing was made into the treetops which he estimated to be 125 ft above the mountain terrain. Reportedly, the main rotor mast separated after contacting the trees & the helicopter rolled inverted & struck the ground in a nose low attitude. A small postcrash fire was extinguished by a portable fire extinguisher from the helicopter. Before crashing, the helicopter was being used on an external load operation. An investigation revealed that it was carrying a 30 gal bucket that had been loosely filled with fabic strap. Witnesses reported the acft was descend at aprx 40 KTS when they observed 1 or more of the straps trailing from the bucket. Subsequently, a strap become entangled in the tail rotor & it was observed to have stopped rotating.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5733M
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2992
- Airframe hours
- 2,350
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 133
- Registered owner
- Vertiflite Air Services
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Departed
- Mt. Leconte, TN
- Destination
- Indian Gap, TN
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 6,950 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TYS, 28 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.