- Date
- September 6, 2026, 14:22 local (18:22 UTC)
- Place
- Alcoma, FL · Wooded field
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N797WSBell 47G-4A
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Loss of engine power (partial)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- Case key
- 203759
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On September 5, 2026, at 1422 eastern daylight time, a Bell 47G-4A, N797WS, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Alcoma, Florida. The pilot was not injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that about 43 minutes after takeoff, he felt the helicopter momentarily yaw to the left twice. About 10 seconds later he heard a brief “metallic grinding noise,” which was followed by a loss of altitude, at which point the pilot performed a forced landing. The helicopter came to rest in trees resulting in substantial damage to the engine mounts, pitch change linkage, and tailboom. The helicopter was recovered and retained for further examination.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N797WS
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-4A
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7509
- Built
- 1966
- Airframe hours
- 6,124
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Wild Goose Of Plant City LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 23, 2025
- Departed
- Plant City, FL
- Destination
- Lake Wales, FL
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 77 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- BOW, 18 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KBOW 061435Z AUTO 31005KT 10SM FEW020 30/25 A2995 RMK AO2 PWINO