SEA99LA098 · Bell 47G3B2A
Bell 47G3B2A · Accident during takeoff
From Pendleton, OR to UNKNOWN
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA99LA098
- 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 47G3B2A
- 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
- N24MP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pendleton, ORTo UNKNOWN
- 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 137: Agricultural
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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
- External load cable/hook › Fouled
- Pilot in command › External load equipment, not approved
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter was applying dry fertilizer from an external bucket. While taking off after refilling the bucket, the external load cable became entangled in the auger of the fertilizer truck. The pilot reported he then attempted to release the load, but the quick-disconnect hydraulic lines would not release. In the process of attempting to get the helicopter to the ground, the helicopter suffered a blade strike and impacted the ground. The pilot reported the hydraulic lines were routed over the skid or cross tube, as opposed to down the release hook and cable. The hydraulic lines were approved for a spray system installation installed per FAA Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) on the helicopter in 1993; however, the operator furnished no substantiation of FAA approval of the external bucket installation, and no record of FAA approval of the bucket installation on the helicopter was on file with the FAA.
Probable cause
A fouled external load cable, and the pilot's operation of the helicopter with a non-approved external bucket installation, resulting in misrouted hydraulic lines and consequent malfunction of the external load release system.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA99LA098
- Event ID
- 20001212X19128
- Case number
- SEA99LA098
- 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: 48339eba0d81783c305379fd1b8b7adcbfb2e17bf4c4b5c9415c200127d29572; retrieved 2026-09-22T14:55:40.178Z.