Bell/Soloy 47G-3B N8469E

Summary

On 27 April 1982 at about 12:50 local time, a Bell/Soloy 47G-3B registered N8469E, operated by Chemaire of Mississippi, Inc., was involved in an accident near Magee, Mississippi, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

27 April 1982 at 12:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Magee, Mississippi, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Bell/Soloy 47G-3B

Registration

N8469E

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Chemaire of Mississippi, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Magee → Magee

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL82FKQ12

1 person died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE BELL 47G-3B WITH A SOLOY CONVERSION WAS BEING USED TO DEMONSTRATE AN AERIAL APPLICATION SPRAYING TECHNIQUE FOR USE ALONG POWERLINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS. FOR ABOUT 15 TO 20 MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF, ROUTINE SPRAY RUNS WERE MADE OVER SEVERAL DIFFERENT POWERLINES WHILE USING WATER AS A SPRAY. JUST PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT, A SPRAY RUN WAS MADE FROM WEST TO EAST WITH A PULL-UP AND TURN-AROUND OVER POWERLINES ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE AREA. THE PILOT STATED THAT FOLLOWING THE TURN-AROUND, BOTH THE CYCLIC AND COLLECTIVE FAILED TO RESPOND AND THE HELICOPTER BEGAN TO VIBRATE. HE STATED THE ENGINE WAS PERFORMING SATISFACTORILY AND THE ROTOR RPM WAS NORMAL. WITNESSES STATED THE HELICOPTER REMAINED IN A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE UNTIL IMPACT. AFTER THE OCCUPANTS WERE REMOVED, THE HELICOPTER BEGAN BURNING. AN EXAMINATION OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE. DUE TO THE EXTENT OF THE FIRE DAMAGE, NO USEFUL INFORMATION WAS FOUND REGARDING THE FLIGHT CONTROL, HYDRAULIC, OR OTHER SYSTEMS IN THE BODY FRAME AREA.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.