Bell 206L-1 N79SP

Summary

On 4 April 1996 at about 15:19 local time, a Bell 206L-1 registered N79SP was involved in an accident near Charleston, West Virginia, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 April 1996 at 15:19

Classification

Accident

Location

Charleston, West Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Yeager (CRW)

Coordinates

38.3106, -81.7501

Aircraft

Bell 206L-1

Registration

N79SP

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → S. Charleston

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC96GA083

2 people died.

the helicopter manufacturer's inadequate maintenance service bulletin inspection interval which failed to provide timely detection of preexisting fatigue cracks in the tail boom. Factors were: the manufacturer's failure to develop a modification of the failed area, and the failure of the FAA certification office to monitor and act upon the significant number of reports of tail boom cracking that were reported by industry.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Three minutes after takeoff, an ATC controller heard a garbled transmission with an ELT signal in the background. Witnesses observed the helicopter in level flight, about 300 feet above a hill, when a tail section separated from the helicopter, followed by the helicopter entering a spin, rolling inverted, and descending into trees. The tail boom section aft of boom station 167, which included the upper and lower vertical fin, the tail rotor gear box, and the tail rotor hub and blades, was found 650 feet from the main wreckage. Examination revealed fatigue cracks at the separated area of the tail section. Due to reports of tail boom cracking, an Alert Service Bulletin had been published by the manufacturer in 1987 recommending an inspection of the tail boom every 100 hours, which had been complied with by the operator. The manufacturer and the FAA certification office were aware of a few reports of tail boom cracking, and were not aware of over 220 Service Difficulty Reports that concerned cracks in the Bell 206L tail booms. A doubler was added to the failed area on recent production models; however, no modifications were developed to add a doubler to the failed area of the older models.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.