ANC83FA092 · Bell B47G-2
Bell B47G-2 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Merrill Field (MRI) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC83FA092
- 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 B47G-2
- Aircraft type
- Bell B47
- 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
- N6140C
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Merrill Field (MRI), Anchorage, AKTo 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
- Approach · VFR pattern downwind
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Altitude, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER EXPERIENCED A TAIL ROTOR STRIKE DURING A HARD LANDING WITH A DOOR OPEN. ACCORDING TO THE STUDENT PILOT WHO IS A COMMERCIAL PILOT WORKING ON AN ADD-ON HELICOPTER RATING, THE LEFT COCKPIT DOOR UNLATCHED AND PARTIALLY OPENED ON THE DOWNWIND LEG FOR TOUCH-AND-GO PRACTICE LANDING. SHE CONTINUED THE PATTERN AND FINAL APPROACH WITH THE DOOR UNLATCHED WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT. SHE EXPECTED THE DOOR TO FULLY OPEN JUST PRIOR TO TOUCHDOWN WHICH IT DID. AS THE DOOR OPENED SHE APPLIED AFT CYCLIC AND FELT THE SKIDS TOUCH DOWN HARDER THAN NORMAL. THE HELICOPTER SLID FORWARD A SHORTDISTANCE WHILE REMAINING ALIGNED WITH THE RUNWAY. WHEN THE ACFT STOPPED THE PILOT LOOKED OUT AND NOTICED THE TAIL ROTOR HAD SEPARATED FROM THE HELICOPTER. INSPECTION OF THE DOOR LATCH SHOWED A WORN LATCH ASSEMBLY WHICH WAS DIFFICULT TO CLOSE PROPERLY. INSPECTION OF THE RUNWAY SURFACE REVEALED A TAILROTOR/GUARD STRIKE PRIOR TO ACFTS MAIN SKIDS TOUCHING THE GROUND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC83FA092
- Event ID
- 20001214X43166
- Case number
- ANC83FA092
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1983-06-07.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 87037b427ddc424d5dcabe297e2c53c60f7761853f2bd93c8c875655f21add10; retrieved 2026-09-23T22:02:36.059Z.