Bell 47G-3B-2 N2919W

Summary

On 9 July 2012 at about 12:09 local time, a Bell 47G-3B-2 registered N2919W, operated by Custom Air LLC, was involved in an accident near Treynor, Iowa, 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

9 July 2012 at 12:09

Classification

Accident

Location

Treynor, Iowa, United States

Nearest airport

None

Coordinates

41.1897, -95.5867

Aircraft

Bell 47G-3B-2

Registration

N2919W

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Custom Air LLC

Operating rule

Part 137: Agricultural

Purpose of flight

Aerial Application

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Treynor → Treynor

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12CA435

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s improper fuel management, which resulted in a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot performed a preflight inspection and noted that the 61-gallon fuel tank was just over a quarter full. After about 26 minutes of aerial application runs, the helicopter yawed left, and a warning light flickered. The pilot did not see which light had illuminated. Thinking it was a fuel problem, he checked the fuel quantity gauge, which read two needle-widths below a quarter tank. The pilot continued spraying, and several seconds later the turbine-engine stopped producing power. The pilot turned left and made an autorotation run-on landing to a field. After the helicopter came to a stop, the main rotor blades flexed downward and severed the tail boom. Approximately 1.75 gallons of fuel was drained from the two fuel tanks. The pilot reported that the usual fuel consumption was about 25 gallons per hour and the tanks had about 4 gallons of unusable fuel. The pilot said that there were no mechanical problems before the accident, and the engine was most likely starved of fuel due to the low fuel level and unusual attitudes inherent to helicopter aerial applications.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.