CHI82DA150 · Sikorsky S-55B
Harral Helicopter Sikorsky S-55B · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering
From OTSEGO, OH to OTSEGO, OH
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI82DA150
- 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
Sikorsky S-55B
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky S-55
- 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
- N16861
- Operator
- Harral Helicopter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From OTSEGO, OHTo OTSEGO, OH
- 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 · hover
- 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)
- 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
- Ignition system, ignition switch › Failure, partial
Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS SPREADING FERTILIZER BY USING EXTERNAL BUCKETS. AS HE WAS UNHOOKING A BUCKET, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. HE DID A HOVERING AUTOROTATION, BUT THE HELICOPTER SETTLED ON A BUCKET, TIPPED OVER AND ALLOWED THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES TO HIT THE GROUND. AN EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE ENGINE HAD MECHANICAL CONTINUITY AND THE FUEL SYSTEM WAS CLEAN AND WORKING PROPERLY. HOWEVER, EVIDENCE OF ARCING WAS FOUND IN THE MAGNETO SWITCH CASE. ALSO, SIGNS WERE FOUND THAT INDICATED MOISTURE HAD BEEN PRESENT IN THE SWITCH. REPORTEDLY, THE ENGINE OPERATED NORMALLY AFTER THE SWITCH WAS REPLACED.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI82DA150
- Event ID
- 20020917X02903
- Case number
- CHI82DA150
- 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: e5c8b7f914bcdd68fe65e69170e32c541012059dfe31e2c5d1f6c79c55c4dec9; retrieved 2026-09-24T03:18:09.698Z.