Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Bell Helicopter Training Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hurst, Texas 76053
Thursday, June 18, 1998 15:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor lost control of the helicopter while demonstrating the technique for recovering from a loss of tail rotor effectiveness while hovering over a helipad. After assuming the controls for the demonstration, the instructor noticed that the RPM was set too low, at 99 percent. The instructor elected to 'beep up' the RPM by stabilizing the cyclic with his left hand and 'beeping' the RPM with the right thumb. He was unsuccessful in beeping the RPM up on 2 attempts. On his last attempt, while manipulating the cyclic lever with his left hand and the RPM switch with the thumb of his right hand, and keeping his eyes on the engine tachometer, the helicopter assumed a nose high attitude while drifting backwards. The flight instructor was not able to recover the helicopter in time to avoid impact with the ground. The winds at the time of the accidents were reported from the south at 27 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's failure to maintain control of the helicopter while attempting to increase the engine RPM while hovering. Factors were the prevailing high winds and the instructor's diverted attention.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/18/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | HURST |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 76053 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | BELL HELICOPTER TRAINING |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| 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 | 460 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 55 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DFW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 620 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4900 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 27 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3313 |
| 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) | 750 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 18 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2001 11:56AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8094L |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA274 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bell |
| Aircraft Model | 206L4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 206L4 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 52125 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4450 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 30 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 78 |
| Airframe Hours | 241 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 482 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FORT WORTH |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76101 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| 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 | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2001 6:29PM |
| 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 | -- |