NYC94LA050 · Bell 47G-5
Bell 47G-5 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while standing
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC94LA050
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Bell 47G-5
- Aircraft type
- Bell 47
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N7043J
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Standing · idling rotors
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- On ground/water collision with object
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Flight instructor(on ground) › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Plymouth, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE STUDENT PILOT WAS RECEIVING INSTRUCTION IN THE BELL 47 HELICOPTER FROM A CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (CFI). AFTER A 1.5 HOUR DUAL INSTRUCTION FLIGHT, THE STUDENT AND THE CFI RETURNED TO THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT TO REFUEL, AND WERE PLANNING TO DEPART AGAIN FOR ANOTHER TRAINING FLIGHT. AFTER LANDING, THE HELICOPTER WAS LEFT IDLING WITH THE RSP AT THE CONTROLS WHILE THE CFI EXITED THE HELICOPTER TO RETRIEVE THE FUEL TRUCK. THE CFI RETURNED WITH THE FUEL TRUCK, RE-FUELED THE HELICOPTER AND WAS RETURNING THE FUEL HOSE TO THE TRUCK WHEN THE TURNING ROTOR BLADES STRUCK THE HOSE AND FUEL TRUCK. THE HOSE IN TURN STRUCK THE CFI. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE TRUCK HAD BEEN PARKED ABOUT 3.5 FEET FROM THE TURNING ROTOR BLADES, AND COMPANY POLICY MANDATED A MINIMUM OF A 10 FOOT CLEARANCE. RE-ENACTMENT OF THE HOSE STOWAGE TO THE SIDE OF THE FUEL TRUCK SHOWED A TENDENCY FOR THE HOSE TO DEFLECT UP INTO THE ROTOR TIP PATH PLANE.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate clearance of the fuel truck from the aircraft, which resulted in the main rotor striking the fuel hose and truck during refueling operation. A factor was the pilot's failure to follow company policy pertaining to the refueling of aircraft.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC94LA050
- Event ID
- 20001206X00976
- Case number
- NYC94LA050
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ce8ba7c1c95cae0bc944240259120e4a8caf6fecec75df543edef01e55fcf41c; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:04:04.343Z.