Bell 212 N291B

Summary

On 8 August 1998 at about 21:05 local time, a Bell 212 registered N291B, operated by BLM (Vale District), was involved in an accident near Juntura, Oregon, 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

8 August 1998 at 21:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Juntura, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

43.7196, -118.0200

Aircraft

Bell 212

Registration

N291B

Category

Helicopter

Engines

2

Operator

BLM (Vale District)

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Burns → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA98GA159

Nobody was injured.

The pilot-in-command's failure to maintain proper clearance between the long line cable and hell hole structure resulting in airframe contact and binding of the cable. This resulted in separation/disabling of the fuel control solenoid and a subsequent restriction/cessation of fuel flow to the #1 engine. Contributing factors were separation of the #1 engine push/pull rod and a tree.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot-in-command (PIC) had just maneuvered the Bell 212 helicopter into a 100 foot hover above a small reservoir to fill a 'Bambi' bucket for fire-fighting operations. The rotorcraft began to settle. The PIC, perceiving that he had encountered rotor vortex conditions, slipped the helicopter to the right with the bucket still in the reservoir. This, in turn, increased the angle of the long line from the vertical or zero degree reference. Immediately thereafter, the PIC noted a loss of power in the #1 engine. He then executed a single-engine autorotation, during which a rotor blade impacted a dead tree. Post-crash examination revealed that the long line had pulled aft and left from its vertical reference into the airframe structure (the 7:30 position of the hell hole in the belly of the helicopter) resulting in 1) the separation of one of the #1 engine push/pull rods, and 2) the deformation of engine control rods associated with the #1 engine flight idle stop (solenoid) which then sheared. The shearing of the flight idle stop resulted in a restriction/cessation of fuel flow to the #1 engine fuel control unit, and subsequent engine shutdown.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.