- Date
- December 17, 1971
- Place
- Mcfarland, CA · MCFARLAND, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Uncontrolled descent
- Aircraft
- N8557FBell 47G5
- Status
- Completed · report April 17, 1972
- Report
- Brief approved by the director
- Case key
- 164500
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
NTSB brief
NTSB’s brief of the accident, as it was printed: the coded facts, with the probable cause and factors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FILE DATE LOCATION AIRCRAFT DATA INJURIES FLIGHT PILOT DATA F S M/N PURPOSE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-3352 71/12/17 MCFARLAND,CALIF BELL 47G5 CR- 0 1 0 COMMERCIAL COMMERCIAL, FL.INSTR., TIME - 0530 N8557F PX- 0 0 0 ASSOC CROP CTL ACTIVITY AGE 48, 11500 TOTAL DAMAGE-DESTROYED OT- 0 0 0 HOURS, 1200 IN TYPE, NOT INSTRUMENT RATED. DEPARTURE POINT INTENDED DESTINATION MCFARLAND,CALIF LOCAL TYPE OF ACCIDENT PHASE OF OPERATION COLLIDED WITH: TREES IN FLIGHT: UNCONTROLLED DESCENT PROBABLE CAUSE(S) PILOT IN COMMAND - SPATIAL DISORIENTATION WEATHER - FOG WEATHER BRIEFING - NO RECORD OF BRIEFING RECEIVED SKY CONDITION CEILING AT ACCIDENT SITE CLEAR UNLIMITED VISIBILITY AT ACCIDENT SITE PRECIPITATION AT ACCIDENT SITE ZERO NONE OBSTRUCTIONS TO VISION AT ACCIDENT SITE TYPE OF WEATHER CONDITIONS FOG IFR TYPE OF FLIGHT PLAN NONE FIRE AFTER IMPACT REMARKS- PLT ENCTRD GND FOG,LGTS RFLCTD OFF FOG DISORIENTED PLT,HEL CRASHED INTO TREES.FLT FOR FROST CTL.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8557F
- Reported as
- Bell 47G5
- Category
- Helicopter
- Engine
- reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
N8557FRegistration cancelled May 14, 2013 · Bell 47G-5Airframe modelBell 47G-5Engine modelLycoming VO-435 series
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.