N7901S

On January 15, 1998, approximately 1530 mountain standard time, a Bell 47G-3B-1, N7901S, was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain while maneuvering near Magdalena, New Mexico. The commercial pilot and a passenger escaped injury. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the public use flight being conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated from a ranch near Magdalena.

The helicopter was being used in the Federal Government's predator control program. The pilot said he and his passenger were flying north and entered a draw. The prey they were chasing (a coyote) turned east and they flew over it at low airspeed and altitude. The pilot was having "trouble maintaining rotor rpm." With higher terrain in front and to his left, he elected to turn east in hopes of exiting the draw to the south. Trees and rough terrain forced him to continue eastward. The pilot found himself below a draw and he pulled collective control. This aggravated the low rpm condition, but the helicopter cleared the rim. On the other side of the rim, the ground sloped down at a 40 degree angle and the pilot tried to stretch his descent towards flatter terrain in an attempt to make a run-on landing. The tail rotor guard and both skids contacted the ground and the helicopter slid 10 feet before striking a small drainage. The right skid dug into soft dirt and "catapulted the helicopter nose down into the air, tearing loose the right skid." The helicopter started to roll to the left. A main rotor blade struck the ground and pitched the helicopter back to the right. The helicopter came to rest upright. The tail boom was severed.

A Federal Aviation Administration inspector was dispatched to the scene. In his accident report (FAA Form 8020-23) the inspector wrote, "Airmen competency is in question because with the existing conditions, there is no apparent reason for the helicopter to have lost rpm. Review of the pilot records indicate only 14 hours of flight time in the last 90 days and no training in the last three years, and the last biennial flight review was almost 20 months ago."