NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CHI07CA212
Registry · N8140J
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BELL 47G-5
Year of manufacture
1970 · 37 years old at event
TCDS
2H3 · SCOTT'S-BELL 47 INC
Engine
LYCOMING VO-435 SERIES (260 hp)
Seats / Engines
3 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19760119
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AB1A99
Registrant of record
GREEN RICK A
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's inability to maintain control of the helicopter when it unexpectedly encountered a whirlwind shortly after takeoff.
Factual narrative
The helicopter impacted the ground following a loss of control when it encountered a whirlwind on takeoff. The pilot reported he stopped spraying because the winds had increased. He stated he landed and spoke with his ground crew then decided to fly the helicopter back to his home airport. He reported the local winds were from the west-southwest at 12 mph gusting to 20 mph. He stated he took off over a cornfield and had just passed through translational lift when he noticed a whirlwind in front of him and slightly to his left. He stated that the next thing he knew he was in the whirlwind. He stated he felt the helicopter shake then it rolled to the right. The helicopter came to rest upside down in the cornfield. The helicopter impacted the ground following a loss of control when it encountered a whirlwind on takeoff. The pilot reported that he stopped spraying because the winds had increased. He stated that he landed and spoke with his ground crew then decided to fly the helicopter back to his home airport. He reported that the local winds were from the west-southwest at 12 mph gusting to 20 mph. He stated that he took off over a cornfield and had just passed through translational lift when he noticed a whirlwind in front of him and slightly to his left. He stated that the next thing he knew he was in the whirlwind. He stated that he felt the helicopter shake then it rolled to the right. The helicopter came to rest upside down in the cornfield. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2007_CHI07CA212.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (loss of control). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article
Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2022 · Accident report
Loss of Control on Takeoff in Icing Conditions — Citation 560XL
Cessna Citation 560XL fatal takeoff icing accident, March 2018. Investigation of a Citation 560XL loss-of-control takeoff accident in icing conditions.
- Semantic Scholar 2021 · Article (Aviation)
ANALYSIS OF GENERAL AVIATION FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS INVOLVING INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL USING A STATE-BASED APPROACH
Inflight loss of control (LOC-I) is a significant cause of General Aviation (GA) fixed-wing aircraft accidents. The United States National Transportation Safety Board’s database provides a rich source…
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Presentation
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
Abstract—We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
- NASA NTRS 2021 · Conference Paper
Use of Design of Experiments in Determining Neural Network Architectures for Loss of Control Detection
We describe empirical methods for selecting a neural network architecture to implement belief state inference on generic commercial transport aircraft.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗