- Date
- June 30, 1983, 09:40 local (15:40 UTC)
- Place
- Townsend, MT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Emergency descent
- Aircraft
- N1334XBell 47G-3B-1 Soloy
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830630033409A
- Case key
- 16105
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 helicopter made a hard touchdown during an autorotative forced landing after the engine quit. During the landing themain rotor severed the tail boom. The pilot stretched the autorotational glide to reach a hay field and lost main rotor RPM in the process. The engine died of fuel starvation because of a low fuel state and because the pilot was descending at high speed with nose low. In this acft according to a test pilot who specializes in this model caution must be used to avoid unusual pitch attitudes with a low fuel state. The pilot said he had a 30 degree nose low attitude. The fuel tanks are slanted 10 degrees aft to compensate for a 7 degree nose low attitude in normal high speed (80 mph) cruise. The pilot said the gauges showed about 10 gallons just before the engine quit. He also stated that he felt starvation occurred.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1334X
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-3B-1 Soloy (47G-3B-1 S)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 6555
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Bear Tooth Helicopters
- Registered owner
- Blain Sales, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 15, 1983 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- E. Of Townsend, MT
- Destination
- Townsend, MT
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
- 36
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,260 total · 1,100 in this make and model · 10,260 as pilot in command · 350 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
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 N1334X · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.