NYC90DNA02 · Bell 47G5
Plymouth Copters Bell 47G5 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering
From PYN · Plymouth, MA to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC90DNA02
- 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 47G5
- 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
- N8591F
- Operator
- Plymouth Copters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From PYN · Plymouth, MATo 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 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
- Maneuvering · turn to reverse direction
- 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)
- 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
- Pilot in command › Carburetor heat, improper use of
- Terrain condition › High vegetation
- Weather condition › Carburetor icing conditions
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Marion, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE WAS PERFORMING AN 'AG TURN' DURING AERIAL APPLICATION OPERATIONS WHEN A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER WAS NOTED. THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED INTO TREES AND BRUSH. THE PILOT STATED THAT 'CARBURETOR ICE WAS SUSPECTED THROUGHOUT THE DAY. CARBURETOR HEAT WAS APPLIED INTERMITTENTLY DURING THE DAY.' ON- SCENE INVESTIGATION REVEALED NO INDICATION OF MECHANICAL DIFFICULTY/MALFUNCTION; THERE WAS FUEL ON BOARD THE HELICOPTER, AND NO EVIDENCE OF CONTAMINATION IN THE FUEL SYSTEM. A POST- ACCIDENT ENGINE RUN WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH NO INDICATION OF POWER LOSS.
Probable cause
IMPROPER USE OF CARBURETOR HEAT BY THE PILOT RESULTING IN A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE LACK OF SUITABLE TERRAIN FOR A FORCED LANDING WAS A FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC90DNA02
- Event ID
- 20001212X23005
- Case number
- NYC90DNA02
- 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: ef6a941bda3189ca87c8882102387a9395a81bd8e0b86bbbf328a2d7e3fd1689; retrieved 2026-09-23T06:25:17.073Z.