- Date
- December 4, 1989, 11:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ardmore, OK
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N2202CBell 47D1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891204049089A
- Case key
- 23084
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Pilot's inadequate compensation for existing wind conditions. Contributing to the accident were the gusty tail winds.
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
After an instructional flight, the helicopter landed on a taxiway and the student pilot secured the engine. Due to limited ground clearance, students were not allowed to position the helicopter onto the nearby refueling pad. Therefore, the CFI manned the helicopter, with the student now a passenger and air taxied downwind to the pad. Once on the pad, gusty tailwinds prompted the CFI to realign the helicopter. As power was added, with the aircraft heading east, control was lost and the main rotor blade struck the ground about 100 feet west of the pad. The wind was from 270 degrees at 15 gusting to 22 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2202C
- Reported as
- Bell 47D1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- M-1
- Engine
- Franklin O-335-5D, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Versatile Aviation, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 1FO
- Destination
- 1FO
- Airport
- LFO · Downtown
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
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,808 total · 145 in this make and model · 1,545 as pilot in command · 180 in the last 90 days · 80 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 15 knots, gusting 22
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 28 °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 N2202C · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.