- Date
- August 16, 1991, 13:30 local (17:30 UTC)
- Place
- Winton, NC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1MHBell 47D1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 24, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910816039689A
- Case key
- 8460
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's selection of unsuitable terrain for landing the helicopter.
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 ag pilot was landing his helicopter on a field road following a local flight. Upon touchdown, the right skid settled into a ditch. A main rotor blade contacted the ground, then it struck the tail boom, severing the t/r drive shaft. The aircraft then began to spin due to the loss of t/r control. The pilot set the helicopter down while still spinning, and the skids collapsed. The helicopter rolled onto its left side, and the pilot egressed uninjured. He trucked the wreckage to his home in Arkansas prior to reporting the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1MH
- Reported as
- Bell 47D1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 473
- Engine
- Franklin 6V-350A, 235 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Moon, Alfred N.
- Registered owner
- Moon, Alfred N.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 9,500 total · 5,500 in this make and model · 9,300 as pilot in command · 400 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days · 8 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 4 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- ECG, 35 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.