FTW83FA311 · Bell 47G-2
Bell 47G-2 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From an unrecorded airport to Elgin, OK
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW83FA311
- 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-2
- 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
- N2495B
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Elgin, OK
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Aircraft service, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER COLLIDED WITH TREES AND ROLLED OVER DURING A FORCED LANDING AFTER ENGINE FAILURE. THE PLT HAD BEEN TAKINGPASSENGERS UP FOR SIGHT-SEEING FOR SEVERAL HOURS. AFTER THE LAST FLT HE AND HIS WIFE HAD DEPARTED THE CITY PARK TO FLY BACK TO THE ACFT HOME BASE. ABOUT 2 MILES LATER THE ENGINE FAILED. DUE TO STRONG WINDS THE PLT COULD NOT REACH A VACANT SCHOOL YARD AND CRASHED INTO TREES. THE ACFT ENGINE HAD A HISTORY OF OIL USE; ABOUT ONE QUART OF OIL PER HOUR. THE PLT STATED HE HAD FLOWN OVER AN HOUR SINCE CHECKING THE OIL. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THE ENGINE OIL TANK WAS CHECKED AND FOUND EMPTY. THE TANK WAS NOT DAMAGED AND THERE WAS NO SIGN OF LEAKAGE. THE MANNER OF THE ENGINE FAILURE WAS REPRESENTATIVE OF AN OIL DEPLETION FAILURE WITH SOME AREAS OF DAMAGE SHOWING SIGNS OF EXTREME OVERHEATING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW83FA311
- Event ID
- 20001214X43726
- Case number
- FTW83FA311
- 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 1983-07-03.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 540db7a0b565f3c73ee7d15d254c498f386a201b60b6be55d6a8fe42fae69ed5; retrieved 2026-09-22T02:36:12.157Z.