Bell 47G-3B-2 N7825S

Summary

On 18 November 2003 at about 22:52 local time, a Bell 47G-3B-2 registered N7825S was involved in an accident near Monmouth, Oregon, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 November 2003 at 22:52

Classification

Accident

Location

Monmouth, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

44.8333, -123.2333

Aircraft

Bell 47G-3B-2

Registration

N7825S

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Monmouth → Monmouth

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04LA018

1 person was seriously injured.

Fatigue failure of a tail rotor blade during hover operations.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting long-line operations (utilizing a 50 foot long-line) in support of a Christmas tree harvest when the accident occurred. The pilot reported he was hovering, into the wind, over the "drop off point" when he heard a loud noise emanating from the rear of the helicopter. He described that the helicopter "instantly" began to rotate around its vertical axis and shortly after jettisoning the load the helicopter impacted terrain. During the post accident examination of the wreckage it was noted that the tail rotor blades and tail rotor gearbox were separated from the helicopters tail assembly. The tail rotor gearbox and one of the tail rotor blades was later located in a ditch near the accident site. The second tail rotor blade was located underneath a conifer tree approximately 100 feet east of the wreckage. Examination of the fractured tail rotor revealed that the blade fractured as a result of fatigue. The fatigue crack had multiple origins on the inside surface of the skin near the outboard end of the butt block (approximately 7.6 inches from the inboard end and 1.38-1.6 inches from the leading edge). Several of the origins were in pitted areas measuring no deeper than .00033 inches. Logbook records indicated that the tail rotor blade had accumulated approximately 1,723 hours since new. The life limit for the tail rotor blade is 2,500 hours

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.