Flager County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Bunnell, Florida 32110
Thursday, May 28, 1998 16:30 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The CFI stated he was providing instruction to the student pilot on how to conduct a normal landing. He said that everything was normal until the wind '... probably shifted during the approach'. He stated that '... upon loosing E.L.T. (he) came up with the collective and the helicopter settled down without any reaction to the rate of descent'. Once the helicopter touched down, it bounced back up. The hard landing caused the main rotor blade to flex down and strike the tailboom causing substantial damage to the helicopter. The CFI stated that when the helicopter was 8 to 10 feet over the ground, it started to lose altitude. The pilot claims to have responded by applying pitch. The commercial-rated CFI had about 500 hours of rotary flight time. He had 5 hours of instructional time. This was the first instructional flight in the Bell 47 helicopter. The surface weather observation at Daytona Beach International, about 19 nautical miles south of Flagler County Airport, reported winds from 310 magnetic at 10 knots at the time of the accident.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot-in-command(CFI) failure to maintain control of the aircraft.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 5/28/1998
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1630
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City BUNNELL
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 32110
Event Date Year 1998
Event Date Month 5
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport FLAGER COUNTY
Event Location Nearest Airport ID X47
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 34
Weather Briefing Completeness Full
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1630 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 160
Weather Observation Facility ID DAB
Elevation of weather observation facility 35
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 19
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 7000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 2100
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Overcast
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 9
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 29
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 22
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 310
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 10
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 184
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date May 28 1998 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1730
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 11 2000 11:23AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N182JR
NTSB Number MIA98LA170
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
Aircraft Series Identifier 47G
Aircraft Serial Number 22
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 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Apr 28 1998 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 30
Airframe Hours 9000
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name S&J INVESTMENTS
Aircraft Owner Street Address 109 HOLIDAY COURT, BUILDING C3
Aircraft Owner City FRANKLIN
Aircraft Owner State TN
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 37064
Operator is an individual? --
Operator Name WING AND ROTOR INTERNATIONAL
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address S.R. 100, BOX 18T #12
Operator City BUNNELL
Operator State FL
Operator Country
Operator Zip code 32110
Operator Code
Owner has at least one certificate None
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation Unknown
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) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code X47
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1530
Departure Time Zone EDT
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 Landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 2 2001 10:30AM
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 --