DEN82FTC09 · Bell 47G-3B-L
Bell 47G-3B-L · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during takeoff
From OUTLAW CANYON, WY to OUTLAW CANYON, WY
Event
- NTSB case
- DEN82FTC09
- 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
- 1 · 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-3B-L
- 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
- N8529F
- Operator
- John C. Miller · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From OUTLAW CANYON, WYTo OUTLAW CANYON, WY
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Cooling system › Failure, total
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, initiated
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Kaycee, WY, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT WAS HAVING COOLING FAN PROBLEMS, SOME BLADES HAD BROKEN. HE LANDED IN A CANYON STAYED OVERNIGHT TO COOL ENGINE AND PLANNED TO FLY TO TOP OF THE CANYON TO GET REPAIRS. AFTER TAKEOFF, THE HELICOPTER HAD CLIMBED ALMOST LEVEL WITH THE TOP OF THE CANYON WHEN THE ENGINE FAILED. DURING AN EMERGENCY LANDING, THE HELICOPTER HIT THE TOPS OF 3 TREES, THEN CRASHED ON ITS TOP. AN EXAMINATION OF THE COOLING FAN REVEALED THAT IT WAS WORN, HAD REWORKED PARTS, CONTAINED INCORRECT PARTS, AND 13 FATIQUE CRACKS WERE FOUND IN THE FAN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DEN82FTC09
- Event ID
- 20020917X03218
- Case number
- DEN82FTC09
- 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: e4589d5ff631c4f5fd874788731d1c2ef4c09e8fb77f6143adaa37fd56595b7e; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:58:04.823Z.