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ANC93FA033 · Bell 214B1

19 Feb 1993 · Ketchikan, AK, United States

Bell 214B1 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering

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Event

NTSB case
ANC93FA033
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
2 · 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 214B1

Aircraft type
Bell 214
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
N114CR
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 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
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
Maneuvering · hover
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
Airframe, component or system failure
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • External load sling/harness › Not dumped
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, overhaul, inadequate
  • Rotorcraft flight control system, primary servo › Fatigue

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE HELICOPTER WAS HOVERING 200 FT AGL, WITH LOGS ATTACHED TO A 150-FT LONGLINE, WHEN IT WAS OBSERVED TO HAVE A LOSS OF CONTROL. THE LOGS WERE DRAGGED ALONG THE GROUND UNTIL CAUGHT IN STUMPS, PITCHING THE HELICOPTER INTO THE GROUND. THE LOWER PISTON ROD OF THE RIGHT DUAL HYDRAULIC SERVO ACTUATOR HAD FAILED IN FATIGUE; ALSO BEARING WEAR WAS INCONSISTENT WITH COMPONENTS OF COMPARABLE TIME. OPERATOR RECORDS SHOWED REGULAR OVERLOADING OF AEROLOGGING HELICOPTERS; ACFT OVERLOADED BY 2000 LBS PRIOR TO ACCIDENT. OPERATOR MAINTENANCE & FACILITY RECORDS INCOMPLETE. MAINTENANCE PERFORMED IN ALASKA WITHOUT FAA AUTHORIZATION. NO RECORDS OF OF FAA SURVEILLANCE OF OPERATOR EXTERNAL LOAD OPERATIONS IN ALASKA SINCE START OF OPERATIONS 4/91. THE EXTERNAL HOOK ELECTRICAL RELEASE MECHANISM WAS TESTED & FUNCTIONED NORMALLY.

Probable cause

INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE OF THE HYDRAULIC SERVO ACTUATOR WHICH LED TO THE FATIGUE FAILURE AND LOSS OF FLIGHT CONTROL. IN ADDITION, THE FLIGHTCREW DID NOT, OR WAS UNABLE TO, JETTISON THE EXTERNAL LOAD. FACTORS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT OPERATING THE HELICOPTER OVER MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT, THE OPERATOR'S CONTINUED AEROLOGGING OPERATIONS WITH AIRCRAFT EXCEEDING MAXIMUM GROSS WEIGHT, AND INADEQUATE SURVEILLANCE OF THE OPERATOR'S MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS ACTIVITY BY THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ANC93FA033
Event ID
20001211X11765
Case number
ANC93FA033
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: 1d9b8477072236e4b92f14e787326712c2aacf910ea711a4e466dce5a0792a6b; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:42:08.408Z.