FTW82IA268 · Bell 47G2A1
Bell 47G2A1 · Incident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From NEAR MERTZON, TX to NEAR MERTZON, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW82IA268
- 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
- Incident
- 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 47G2A1
- 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
- N73983
- Operator
- Hal E. Noelke · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From NEAR MERTZON, TXTo NEAR MERTZON, TX
- 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Minor
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not obtained
- Pilot in command › Wind information, disregarded
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE THE AIRCRAFT WAS BEING HOVERED LOW AND SLOW AROUND A WATER TROUGH, DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WAS LOST. THE PILOT AUTOROTATED TO THE GROUND AND ON TOUCHDOWN THE RIGHT SKID BUCKLED AND THE TAILROTOR GEARBOX SEPARATED WHEN IT STRUCK AN ANT HILL. THE PILOT ORIGINALLY REPORTED THAT ONE OF THE TAILROTOR BLADES HAD SEPARATED IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE FATIGUE. HOWEVER METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE FAILED PARTS INDICATED THAT ALL OF THE FRACTURES HAD OCCURED IN OVERLOAD. THE REPORTED WINDS WOULD HAVE BEEN CONDUCIVE TO LOSS OF TAILROTOR EFFECTIVENESS AT LOWER AIRSPEEDS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW82IA268
- Event ID
- 20020917X03512
- Case number
- FTW82IA268
- 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: 9bbd77638937b1e5b71c7024244e2b2c080cac40cc51ae7beb337f865e174aa5; retrieved 2026-09-24T02:40:19.656Z.