CHI82DA336 · Bell 47G-5A
Flight Training Center Bell 47G-5A · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering
From Eden Prairie, MN to Eden Prairie, MN
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI82DA336
- 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-5A
- 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
- N58077
- Operator
- Flight Training Center
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eden Prairie, MNTo Eden Prairie, MN
- 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
- Airframe, component or system 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
- Rotorcraft flight control, collective control › Undetermined
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Waconia, MN, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
JUST PRIOR TO THE FLIGHT, THE HELICOPTER HAD BEEN RELEASED BY THE MAINTENANCE SECTION AFTER TROUBLESHOOTING A SQUAWK CONCERNING A "BINDING COLLECTIVE." THE STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR (CFI) DEPARTED ON A LOCAL FLIGHT AND FLEW ABOUT AN HOUR PRACTICING PRECISION HOVERING AND RAPID DECELERATIONS. DURING THE RAPID DECELERATINS, THE AIRCREW FELT A BINDING CONDITION IN THE COLLECTIVE AND MADE A NOTE TO INFORM THE MAINTENANCE SECTION. AFTER THE LAST RAPID DECELERATION, A CLIMB WAS MADE TO 1500 FT MSL. WHILE ROLLING LEVEL FROM A TURN AT 45 TO 50 MPH, THE AIRCRAFT SHOOK VIOLENTLY, A LOUD "BANK" WAS HEARD AND THE HELICOPTER BEGAN A DESCENT AS IF THE COLLECTIVE HAD BEEN SLAMMED TO THE BOTTOM. WITH THE COLLECTIVE FULL UP, ENGINE AND ROTOR RPM OVER THE GREEN ARC, THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED AS IF IT WERE IN A FULL AUTOROTATION. CYCLIC AND ANTITORQUE PEDALS WERE USED TO AVOID POWER LINES, BUT THE MAIN ROTOR STRUCK A TREE AND THE HELICOPTER CRASHED AND BURNED. ONLY OVERLOAD FAILURE WAS FOUND IN THE COLLECTIVE COMPONENTS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI82DA336
- Event ID
- 20020917X04390
- Case number
- CHI82DA336
- 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: e6b1143ce273d0edd16d36943c2c74301b8c10d7caf18cda65004f8e4ac2088c; retrieved 2026-09-21T18:07:47.183Z.