- Date
- April 8, 1983, 16:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hempstead, TX
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3898PBell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830408012019A
- Case key
- 20860
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
Acording to the pilot the aircraft was in level flight at 800 feet AGL when the pilot experienced severe yaws in rapid rapid succession. He noticed he torque fluctuating between 30 and 100 pounds, went into autorotation and selected a landing spot heading into the wind. As the pilot was beginning his flare when a passenger saw powerlines right in front of them. The pilot made evasive corrections but hit the wires and impacted the ground left side first. A teardown of theengine revealed an accumulation of foreign matterial in the compressor and diffuser sections of the engine.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3898P
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3212
- Airframe hours
- 1,087
- Engine
- Allison 250-C-20B, 317 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Allen Kent Northwest, doing business as Jet
- Registered owner
- Robert Hargraves Or Jim Harris
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- AAIP · March 25, 1983 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- DWH
- Destination
- Austin, TX
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
- 34
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 5,872 total · 1,761 in this make and model · 5,282 as pilot in command · 101 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 14 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HOB, 28 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.