- Date
- October 27, 1985, 07:00 local (13:00 UTC)
- Place
- Plainfield, WI
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7840SBell 47G-5
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19851027053999A
- Case key
- 13228
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 acft crashed into trees and nosed into the wooded terrain after a loss of powr. The helicopter had been refueled the day before the acc. Normal fuel load was 20 gals. The plt had sprayed 20 acres & flown 9 miles to another field to spray but aborted due to wind before a return to arpt. The day of the acc there is no record of fueling. The plt took up the operation where he had stopped but after spraying 10 acres he started back to base. He had flown aprx 1/2 way back when the eng quit. Witnesses on the ground heard the eng pop & quit & saw the acft descending but could not see the actual impact due to obstructing trees. The fuel tanks over the eng had bust during the crash and there was no fire or evidence of fuel spillage at the scene. No mechanical discrepancies or human inpairment was revealed during the investigation except evidence of lack of fuel.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7840S
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-5
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7861
- Airframe hours
- 4,325
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-B1A, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Roy W Reabe
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 2, 1985 · 400 hours before
- Departed
- 8WI2 · Plainfield, WI
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,930 total · 5,030 in this make and model · 6,810 as pilot in command · 300 in the last 90 days · 100 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 300° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AUW, 30 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.
Other investigations on N7840S · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.