N14841

On September 22, 2000, at 1500 eastern daylight time, a Bell 47G-5A, N14841, operated by the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, collided with the terrain while landing in a field in Economy, Indiana. The commercial pilot received minor injuries and the passenger was not injured. The helicopter was substantially damaged. The public use flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions without a flight plan. The flight originated from Richmond, Indiana, at 1330 eastern daylight time.

The pilot reported that the purpose of the flight was for aerial photography. He reported that the winds began to pick up during the flight, so he elected to make an off airport landing to take a break and see if the winds would subside.

The pilot reported that he flew over the chosen landing area to check the site prior to landing. The pilot reported the approach and initial touchdown were normal. He reported, "After reaching the bottom limit of the collective pitch the helicopter tilted rearward. The pilot positioned the cyclic pitch forward and left lateral to try and level the helicopter, but the helicopter continued tilting rearward. The pilot continued cyclic correction and pulled power on the collective pitch. Simultaneous with this action the tailrotor struck the ground and the helicopter departed the ground forward, rotated to the right and reached an altitude of 10' to 15'. The pilot reduced the collective and closed the throttle at which time the helicopter landed hard just in front of the initial sit down point. Upon impacting the ground the pilot lost his hold on the collective and it raised from the impact. This caused the helicopter to begin rotating again, however it remained on the ground. The pilot pushed the collective back down, closed the throttle, pulled the idle cut-off lever and shut off the mags and battery/generator switches, but the engine did not shut down. The pilot pulled the fuel shut-off valve and the engine shut down about 15 seconds later."

The pilot reported that after the accident he checked the area and discovered that the ground had a downhill slope in the area where the rear portion of the skids would have been. He reported that the slope was obscured by grass.