- Date
- March 3, 1990, 14:50 local (19:50 UTC)
- Place
- Miami, FL
- Injuries
- 2 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4837Bell 47G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900303003059A
- Case key
- 32629
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
Inadequate preflight by the pilot, which resulted in fuel exhaustion due to an inadequate supply of fuel. The location of trees was a related factor in that the pilot was unable to maintain rotor RPM while attempting to reach a suitable landing area during the autorotation.
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
The pilot of the helicopter planned a sightseeing flight and estimated he had 8 gallons of fuel on board. The engine lost power due to fuel exhaustion about 12 min after takeoff. As the pilot attempted to stretch the glide to a clearing to avoid trees, the rotor RPM decayed and a hard landing occurred.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4837
- Reported as
- Bell 47G
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1453
- Airframe hours
- 10,557
- Engine
- Franklin 6V-335, 210 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gold Coast Helicopters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 16, 1990 · 12 hours before
- Departed
- Miami, FL
- Airport
- Gold Coast
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
- 56
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,000 total · 7,000 in this make and model · 7,800 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 18 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MIA, 6 nm away
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 N4837 · 4
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.