- Date
- August 4, 1983, 19:45 local (23:45 UTC)
- Place
- Stuart, FL
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N51DCBell 206B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830804040599A
- Case key
- 30925
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
While in cruise flt at aprx 600 ft AGL, a catastrophic failure of the engine's 3rd stage turbine occurred. The plt related that he observed an engine chip detector light, which was followed almost immediately by fire in the engine. He made a successful autorotative landing. The fire was extinguished by use of hand fire fighting equipment. Fire damage was limited to the engine area. The engine was shipped to the manufacturer's facility for examination. According to their report, the failure occurred due to what appeared to be an oil type corrosion from the I.d. surface of the inner power turbine shaft; corrosion weakened the shaft by reducing the wall thickness which resulted in it fracturing & allowing the 3rd stage turbine wheel to separate from the 4th stage turbine sheel & overspeed; the 3rd stage wheel then experienced an uncontained burst failure as a result of the overspeed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N51DC
- Reported as
- Bell 206B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 2732
- Airframe hours
- 6,329
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 317 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Sundance Helicopter Svc., Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 4, 1983 · 1 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
- 43
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 5,820 total · 5,200 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VRB
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 N51DC · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.