ATL94LA014 · Bell 47G-3B-1 SOLOY 47G-3B-1 S
Bell 47G-3B-1 SOLOY 47G-3B-1 S · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From No airport to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL94LA014
- 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-3B-1 SOLOY 47G-3B-1 S
- 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
- N3078G
- Operator
- Testa, Louis V. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From No airportTo 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Fuel contamination; Tree(s)
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Contamination
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER LIFTOFF WITH A LONG LINE EXTERNAL LOAD, THE HELICOPTER WAS CLIMBED VERTICALLY TO ALLOW THE LOAD TO CLEAR TREES AROUND THE REMOTE OPERATING SITE. ABOUT 250 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND THE ENGINE QUIT. ROTOR SPEED WAS DECAYED DURING THE AUTOROTATION, TO OVERFLY THE TREES AND REACH A DIRT ROAD. THE HELICOPTER LANDED HARD ON THE ROAD AND CLIPPED TREES WITH THE MAIN ROTOR. AFTER THE ACCIDENT, THE HELICOPTER'S FUEL SYSTEM WAS FOUND TO CONTAIN WATER. THE HELICOPTER HAD BEEN FUELED FROM PORTABLE DRUMS, AT THE REMOTE SITE, THAT HAD NO FILTER TO PRECLUDE WATER ENTERING THE AIRCRAFT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE PRE-FLIGHT INSPECTION. FACTORS WERE THE LACK OF A FILTER ON THE REFUELING PUMP WHICH WOULD PRECLUDE WATER PASSAGE, AND THE HIGH TREES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL94LA014
- Event ID
- 20001211X13682
- Case number
- ATL94LA014
- 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: ef66bde5aedd626cdda45dc91bff2d69fec23144551675119742985fed4e1d23; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:28:52.204Z.