- Date
- March 21, 1988, 10:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Gobernador, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N7863SBell 47G-3B1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 25, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880321008439A
- Case key
- 17389
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 commerical plt was hovering out of ground effect at 40 feet AGL. During a maneuver he reported hearing a loud bang and the rotor RPM began to decay. The plt made a hovering autorotation resulting in a hard landing. The main rotor struck the tail boom and severed it. A post accident transmission tear down revealed that the locking rollers in the free wheeling unit had worn beyond tolerance, allowing the main rotor to become and remain disengaged from the transmission.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7863S
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-3B1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 6630
- Airframe hours
- 5,024
- Engine
- Lycoming TVO-435-B1A, 270 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James S. Hicks
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 20, 1988 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- Gobernador, NM
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
- 49
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 17,460 total · 12,147 in this make and model · 155 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °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 N7863S · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.