FTW03LA166 · Bell 47G-2
Bell 47G-2 · Accident: loss of control in flight during takeoff
From Franklinton Airport (2R7) to Franklinton, LA
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW03LA166
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- N90485
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Franklinton Airport (2R7), Franklinton, LATo Franklinton, LA
- 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
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Miscellaneous eqpt/furnishings, aircraft tie-down(s) › Not removed
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The helicopter encountered dynamic rollover while the pilot attempted to takeoff. The tie-down strap did not give way and the helicopter rolled over to the right, impacting the ground. Examination of the wreckage by the operator revealed structural damage to the right side of the helicopter. The rotor blades were completely destroyed and the right skid was completely off of the helicopter. According to the FAA inspector, who responded to the accident site, the tie-down strap on the right skid was not properly removed prior to takeoff.
Probable cause
The pilot's encounter with dynamic rollover due to his failure to properly remove the tie-down strap on the right skid prior to takeoff. Factors were the pilot's inadequate preflight preparation and failure to abort takeoff.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW03LA166
- Event ID
- 20030606X00807
- Case number
- FTW03LA166
- 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, coordinates. 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: abe5c395805e97955a561bc2d57d5e04fb7f11d1ec3b5bddc48beb17790c8f50; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:28:09.320Z.