- Date
- July 8, 1986, 09:15 local (16:15 UTC)
- Place
- Porterville, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N1316XBell 47G-5
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 10, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860708031469A
- Case key
- 24963
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 aerial application flight the plt lost control of the helicopter and collided with a building. Examination revealed that the inside diameter of the tail rotor driveshaft was not coated with aluminized lacquer as required by the bell finish process specification. The bell drawing requires two #2 short plugs to be installed at a specified distance from each end of the tail rotor driveshaft and the end of the shaft to be sealed off with adhesive to protect the shaft inside diameter from corrosion. A dimensional check of the shaft revealed that the plugs were not installed at the correct distance from the end of the shaft as specified in the drawing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1316X
- Reported as
- Bell 47G-5
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7827
- Airframe hours
- 5,951
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-B1A, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Registered owner
- M&W Flying Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 1985 · 289 hours before
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 10,077 total · 5,000 in this make and model · 9,801 as pilot in command · 110 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
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 N1316X · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.