Bell 407 N991SP

Summary

On 19 May 2003 at about 14:55 local time, a Bell 407 registered N991SP was involved in an accident near Franklin, Louisiana, United States. 2 people were 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

19 May 2003 at 14:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Franklin, Louisiana, United States

Coordinates

30.5331, -91.1494

Aircraft

Bell 407

Registration

N991SP

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Public Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Baton Rouge → Franklin

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03TA156

Nobody was injured.

The loss of tail rotor effectiveness due to the inadequate maintenance performed by other company personnel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

When approaching a helipad for landing, the pilot realized that the anti-torque pedals were not effective. Due to obstacles, the pilot aborted his approach to the helipad and turned eastbound toward a sugar cane field. Subsequently, the helicopter started to rotate and the pilot realized he had no control of the tail rotor with the anti torque pedals. He then rolled the throttle to idle, and initiated an autorotation from approximately 75 feet AGL. The pilot reported that a high sink rate developed and the helicopter impacted the ground hard on the main landing skids. Inspection of the helicopter revealed that the pivot bolt (P/N: NAS6604D31), bushing (P/N: 206-011-726-005), nut (P/N: MS14144l4), and cotter pin (P/N: MS24665-155), that connects the rotor control idler assembly (P/N: 406-012-127-101) to the tail rotor control housing assembly was not found. Examination of the aircraft logbooks indicated that there was an annual maintenance inspection preformed on the helicopter 7 days hours prior to the accident. The helicopter accumulated 4.9 hours of flight time since time of inspection.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.