LAX82DA135 · Bell 47G-2
Valley Helicopters Bell 47G-2 · Accident: in flight collision with object during initial climb
From Stockton, CA to Stockton, CA
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX82DA135
- 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
- N2879B
- Operator
- Valley Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Stockton, CATo Stockton, CA
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Wire, static
- 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 › Clearance, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT LANDED TO PICK UP A FLAGGER AND TAKE HIM TO THE END OF THE FIELD. THE LANDING WAS MADE FACING NORTH ON A NORTH-SOUTH DRIVEWAY. AN OVERHEAD LINE WAS LOCATED ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE DRIVEWAY. DURING TAKEOFF, THE PILOT MOVED LATERALLY TO THE WEST, AND THEN TURNED THE HELICOPTER TO TAKEOFF. HE THOUGHT THE HELICOPTER WOULD BE CLEAR OF THE OVERHEAD LINE; HOWEVER, THE TAIL ROTOR STRUCK THE WIRE AND FAILED. THE HELICOPTER BEGAN TO SPIN AND THE PILOT INITIATED A HOVERING AUTOROTATION. DURING TOUCHDOWN, A SKID FAILED WHILE THE HELICOPTER WAS STILL SPINNING AND MOVING ACROSS THE GROUND. THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES STRUCK THE GROUND AND THE HELICOPTER WAS SUBSEQUENTLY DEMOLISHED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX82DA135
- Event ID
- 20020917X02217
- Case number
- LAX82DA135
- 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: 78f8ff028961033475d36b7ef82a953619b85aa3be6ce5a4eb192eb5bfa84e4d; retrieved 2026-09-24T03:24:57.283Z.