Aviation Crash Map

Bell 47-G5 N7885S

23 July 1996 · Lost Hills, California, United States · No injuries

Summary

On 23 July 1996 at about 17:45 local time, a Bell 47-G5 registered N7885S was involved in an accident near Lost Hills, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

The record

Date
at 17:45
Classification
Accident
Location
Lost Hills, California, United States
Coordinates
35.5400, -118.9109
Aircraft
Bell 47-G5
Registration
N7885S
Category
Helicopter
Engines
1
Operator
Not recorded
Operating rule
Part 137: Agricultural
Purpose of flight
Aerial Application
Phase of flight
Not recorded
Route
Lost Hills → Shafter
Aircraft damage
Substantial
Weather
VMC
Light
Day
NTSB number
LAX96LA287

People

Nobody was injured.

On board Died Serious Minor Uninjured
1 0 0 0 1

Probable cause

improper installation of the carburetor air box.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot landed to take on enough fuel to ferry the helicopter back to the home base. After liftoff at 100 to 150 feet agl he lost all engine power. A postaccident examination revealed that the carburetor air box had been installed with the wrong gasket and mispositioned so that one of four attachment bolts was missing. The gasket was partially ingested into the carburetor throat along with a foreign material determined to be a dusting product that coated the carburetor throat area through the gasket void.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.

Other Bell 47 accidents

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
29 Oct 1996 Bell 47G-3B-1
N3098G
Fillmore, Utah, United States Usfs Fatal 1
7 Oct 1996 Bell 47G-5A
N8135J
King City, California, United States - No injuries -
10 Sep 1996 Bell 47G-3B-1
N1335X
Rangely, Colorado, United States - No injuries -
11 Aug 1996 Bell 47G-4A
N9472G
Adel, Georgia, United States - Fatal 1
29 Sep 1996 Bell 47G-3B-1
N1397X
Borinquen
no coordinates
- No injuries -
10 Dec 1996 Bell 47G
N4758R
Pendleton, Oregon, United States Wildhorse Helicopters, Inc. Fatal 2

All 1,633 records for this type

Other accidents in this area

Date Aircraft Location Operator Outcome Died
8 Mar 1996 Maule M-6-235
N5652C
Bishop, California, United States - No injuries -
11 Oct 1996 Cessna 210A
N9403X
Truckee, California, United States
no coordinates
- Minor injuries -
8 Mar 1996 Cessna 152
N49048
Santa Paula, California, United States - Serious injuries -
3 Oct 1996 Piper PA-28-140
N5705U
Plymouth, California, United States - No injuries -
13 Mar 1996 Cessna T210M
N8683M
Grass Valley, California, United States - Serious injuries -
14 Mar 1996 Cessna 172L
N7668G
Napa, California, United States - No injuries -

All 170,864 records in United States