Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Crossett, Arkansas 71635
Sunday, July 13, 1997 5:50 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot (plt) said that during flight, he 'heard and felt flutter in the tail rotor.' He began an emergency descent, & about 25' above power lines, the helicopter (hel) began yawing (spinning) to the right. After 7 to 9 'revolutions,' the plt 'pulled pitch' to cushion impact. The hel landed hard in a ditch & was damaged (fuselage was bent & tail boom was twisted). An exam revealed the forward portion of the tail rotor drive shaft was disconnected from the transmission. The disconnect was due to an increase in distance between the forward & aft female couplings of the shaft. The increased distance was due to a fractured longeron tube on the upper left side of the fuselage center frame. The tube extended aft from airframe station -2.0 (where the left side engine Lord mount was bolted to the center frame) to the tube cluster at station -50.99. The fracture was not readily visible due to the tube's location behind a crop-spraying tank. Further exam revealed the crack was due to fatigue that originated at the toe of a weld for a gusset. Heavy corrosion & pitting on the fracture surface suggested the crack had been developing for some time. Records showed the center frame was manufactured as part of the hel; the hel was originally delivered as a U.S. Army TH-13T on 10/31/68.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of maintenance personnel to perform an adequate inspection of the fuselage center frame and detect a fatigue fracture of a longeron tube on the upper left side of the center frame, which resulted in a disconnect of the tail rotor drive shaft from the transmission, loss of yaw (anti-torque) control, and a subsequent hard (emergency) landing. A related factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/13/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 550 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | CROSSETT |
| Event State | ARKANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 71635 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1140 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 13 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1140 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N83701 |
| NTSB Number | FTW97LA264 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 47G-3B-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 47G-3B-1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3835 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 16 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 122 |
| Airframe Hours | 5175 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WALTER L. PRENTICE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | RT 1 BOX 77 |
| Aircraft Owner City | BOKCHITO |
| Aircraft Owner State | OK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 74726 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | TDZG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NONE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 545 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |