Bell 47G-B3 N6712D

Summary

On 8 August 1999 at about 21:00 local time, a Bell 47G-B3 registered N6712D was involved in an accident near Selma, Alabama, 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.

Date

8 August 1999 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Selma, Alabama, United States

Nearest airport

Craig Field (SEM)

Coordinates

32.4110, -87.0306

Aircraft

Bell 47G-B3

Registration

N6712D

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA99LA217

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain the proper touchdown point during landing causing the landing skid to become entangled with the edge of the helipad platform and the resultant rollover and main rotor blade strike of the tow vehicle.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After a test flight following maintenance, the pilot/owner was positioning the helicopter onto a trailer, (tail forward) when the right landing skid slipped off and became hooked on the edge of the landing platform. Despite full forward, left cyclic, the rotorcraft continued backward until the main rotor blades collided with the aft part of the truck. The main rotor pitch control rods were removed and shipped to the NTSB Materials Laboratory for failure analysis, and although the rods were found to possess under specification tensile strength, all damage appeared to be consistent with impact damage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.