- Date
- September 21, 1985, 11:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Watsonville, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2874BBell 47G-2
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850921047049A
- Case key
- 24843
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
During an ag flt, at abt 5 ft AGL, the plt heard a loud bang, the eng oversped, & all pwr to the rotor blades was lost. The plt attempted to immediately land in the underlying field, but had insufficient altitude/airspeed to autorotate. The acft touched down, bounced, & the main rotor blades flexed down & severed the tail boom. Exam of the clutch revealed that poor contact was being made between the shoes & drum. Exam of the free wheeling unit revealed it contained numerous rollers which would not lock. It is unknown which components's failure was primary.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2874B
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-2
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1987
- Airframe hours
- 8,310
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-A1D, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Helicair Ag, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · September 13, 1985 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- Watsonville, CA
- Destination
- Watsonville, CA
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
- 66
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Multi-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 19,236 total · 6,448 in this make and model · 19,054 as pilot in command · 213 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °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 N2874B · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.