- Date
- May 15, 1983, 12:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Zachary, LA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N739BBell 47G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830515019409A
- Case key
- 20723
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 tail rotor gear box separated from the acft during practice autorotation. The acft began to spin rapidly and nose down. Increasing the power brought the nose up but increased the speed of rotation. The acft hit on one skid still in a rapid spin. The occupants were able to exit the wreckage and crawl away. The tailrotor gear box was found 100 yds away. An exam revealed that the gearbox studs had failed from fatigue.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N739B
- Reported as
- Bell 47G
- Category
- Helicopter
- Engine
- Franklin 6V4, 240 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- James T Lewis
- Departed
- Baker, LA
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 56
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Flight hours
- 23,210 total · 1,550 in this make and model · 210 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- BTR
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.