1977 Gary Powers helicopter crash
On August 1, one thousand nine hundred seventy seven a Bell two hundred six news helicopter piloted by Francis Gary Powers crashed into a field near Encino, Los Angeles killing Powers and the aircraft’s only passenger, cameraman George Spears. The cause of the crash was determined to be fuel exhaustion.
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The Bell two hundred six JetRanger was operating under Federal Aviation Regulation Part ninety one on a noncommercial flight and departed Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on the morning of August 1, one thousand nine hundred seventy seven to provide aerial coverage and record movie after a wildfire in Santa Barbara, California eighty six nautical miles to the west. At approximately 12:25 pm Powers contacted KNBC and stated he had ended gathering footage, was returning to Burbank and he believed he had enough fuel for the come back excursion. A few minutes later Powers radioed the control tower at Van Nuys Airport requesting clearance to land there due to low fuel. Permission was granted but the aircraft failed to arrive. [1]
The helicopter was now at eight hundred feet above ground level (agl) and almost out of fuel. Realizing he would not make the airport, Powers began searching for a spot to land in the powerfully built up area. At 12:35 Powers pointed the aircraft towards the Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area and ready to auto-rotate down to an open area. The Bell two hundred six has superior autorotation characteristics, [Two] but as he descended Powers spotted a group of teenagers playing on a baseball diamond and made an abrupt maneuver to avoid them. Powers’ last radio transmission was “TV four just lost -”. At approximately fifty feet agl the tail-rotor fell off and Powers was ejected from the helicopter. At 12:36 the aircraft impacted the ground about fifty yards from where the boys were playing. The machine gouged a twenty foot long trench in the earth and flipped upside-down. Powers and Spears both received fatal injuries. Nobody on the ground was reported hurt. [Trio]
The helicopter involved in the accident was a Bell 206B JetRanger serial number four hundred thirty three built in 1969. [Four]
It was powered by a single Allison model 250-C20B turboshaft engine, rated at four hundred twenty shaft horsepower. The aircraft Certificate Issue Date was September Nineteen, one thousand nine hundred seventy four and it had been modified with the addition of an externally mounted 360-degree movie camera and movie recording equipment. Registered as N4TV, it was commonly referred to as the “Telecopter”. [Five]
The helicopter pilot was 47-year-old Francis Gary Powers who began flying the JetRanger when he joined KNBC in November 1976. Best known for piloting an ill-fated reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union in 1960, Powers held a valid commercial pilots license and was instrument rated with seven thousand one hundred ninety three total flight hours including three hundred eighty one in the Bell 206. [Five]
The only passenger was 43-year-old cameraman George Spears who had been employed by KNBC for fourteen months. [1]
The half-million dollar Telecopter was downright ruined during the crash. When firefighters arrived they eliminated the helicopter’s smoking battery from the fuselage for safety. The wreckage was moved to the Wayne Airframe Aviation Company in Van Nuys. Found inwards the helicopter was the movie recorder and four movie cassettes. The aircraft was not tooled with a flight data recorder (FDR) or a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and investigators had hoped the tapes might have clues to the reason for the crash but evidently the recorder was not operating at the time of the incident. [1]
During the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation, no evidence of failure or malfunction of the aircraft or any of its systems prior to the crash was found. Further examination of the engine found approximately five fluid ounces of jet fuel in the entire fuel system and that the engine had flamed out due to fuel starvation. The final report from the NTSB lists the probable causes as improper in-flight decisions and mismanagement of fuel by the pilot in directive which led to fuel exhaustion. Also listed was improper operation of flight controls during the power-off autorotation. [Five]
According to one report, the helicopter’s fuel gauge had been reported faulty by Powers. The improperly operating fuel gauge would indicate empty when the fuel tank actually contained enough fuel for thirty minutes flying time. It has been alleged the gauge was repaired to function correctly without Powers being notified. This is a possible explanation why an experienced pilot such as Powers could have run out of fuel. [Three]