Bell 47G-2 accident near Benton City, WA
On August 26, 1999, a Bell 47G-2 (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Benton City, WA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 26, 1999
- Place
- Benton City, WA
- Aircraft
- Bell 47G-2 · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 46.241°N, 119.491°W
- NTSB ID
- 20001212X19655
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On August 26, 1999, approximately 1125 Pacific daylight time, a non-deregistered Bell 47G-2 helicopter, previously N11VH, being operated by the owner, was destroyed during a collision with terrain and subsequent post-crash fire approximately four miles southeast of Benton City, Washington. The owner, who was the sole occupant, was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions existed and no flight plan had been filed. The personal flight was to have been operated under the provisions of 14CFR91, and originated from the owner's residence earlier in the morning. There were no reported eyewitnesses to the accident. An ear witness reported hearing the rotorcraft depart from her neighbor's property and subsequently heard a "popping" sound followed by silence. She then looked west and observed a smoke plume (refer to ATTACHMENT FAA I). PERSONNEL INFORMATION The pilot's family provided a single flight logbook which was examined. The cover page of the logbook contained no pilot certificate information and was annotated as "log book #1." The logbook's first two pages contained written entries for 13 individual flights with the first flight dated 2/21/88, and the last dated 8/24/99. The first five flights, flown in a Hiller FH-1100 rotorcraft between 2/21/88 and 4/15/88, totaled 5.1 hours of flight time (all logged as dual). The remaining eight flights, flown in N11VH between 7/19/99 and 8/24/99, totaled 10.0 hours (all logged as dual). Refer to TABLE I for a breakdown of the pilot's logbook. There was no record of the pilot possessing a student pilot or any oth
Probable cause
A loss of power for undetermined reasons and the failure of the pilot to maintain adequate rotor RPM following the power loss. Contributing factors were the pilot's lack of certification and total experience.
More accidents in WA
- Dehavilland DHC-3, Sep 4, 2022
- Cessna 208B, Oct 8, 2007
- Cessna 172P, Dec 7, 1991
- Piper PA-32-260, Jul 29, 2001
- Beech A60, Nov 21, 1992
Browse: Washington · 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.
