Bell OH-58A accident near Newark, TX
On September 17, 1997, a Bell OH-58A (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Newark, TX. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- September 17, 1997
- Place
- Newark, TX
- Aircraft
- Bell OH-58A · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 32.999°N, 97.440°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001208X08833
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On September 17, 1997, approximately 0945 central daylight time, a military surplus Bell OH-58A helicopter, N149SD, registered to and operated by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department (TCSD), was destroyed when it impacted the ground in an uncontrolled descent at Kenneth Copeland Airport near Newark, Texas. The commercial pilot and the observer, who were both employed as peace officers by the TCSD, received fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the public use flight that originated from Fort Worth Meacham International Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, at 0910. The TCSD stated on the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report (NTSB Form 6120.1/2) that the flight was "a surv[eillance] mission of suspected criminal activity" in the vicinity of Copeland Airport and "apparently the pilot elected to use the runways for either training in the traffic pattern or to wait there until the next pass on the suspected area." Three witnesses, who were in a pickup truck driving to their work site on the west side of Copeland Airport, reported observing the helicopter "sitting idling" or "hovering" at the south end of runway 17-35. They watched the helicopter for a few minutes and then observed it takeoff to the south and turn left. The witnesses then drove north to a tank battery located "about the midpoint of the runway and a couple of hundred feet west of the runway." After getting out of the truck, two of the witnesses again began to watch the helicopter which had circled the airport and was now north of them heading s
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate rotor rpm which resulted in a loss of aircraft control.
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Browse: Texas · Bell aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
