Bell 407 accident near Grand Canyon, Arizona, April 16, 2000
On April 16, 2000 at about 7:08 pm local time, a Bell 407 (helicopter), registered N175PA, was substantially damaged in an accident near Grand Canyon, Arizona. It was a flight of an unrecorded kind under charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135). No one was hurt; 6 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The failure and subsequent disintegration of the oil cooler fan forward hanger bearing.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- April 16, 2000 · about 7:08 pm local time
- Place
- Grand Canyon, Arizona · map
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 6 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Bell 407 · all 407s on the register
- Registration
- N175PA · registry record · serial 53154
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Flight of an unrecorded kind · charter and air-taxi rules (Part 135)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
About 5 minutes after takeoff, while in cruise flight, the pilot felt a few short 'clunks' and then heard grinding noise and felt violent shaking. The pilot elected to perform a precautionary, autorotative, off-airport landing. During the landing flare, the tail rotor and tail stinger contacted the ground. The tail rotor blades were damaged, the stinger broken, and the tail rotor gearbox was fractured. The vibration that the pilot felt was traced to a failed bearing at the oil cooler fan forward hanger. The bearing was sent to the helicopter manufacturer for examination; however, a fracture mode could not be identified due to damage to the fracture surfaces. An airworthiness directive applied to the bearing and was complied with 11 flight hours prior to the accident.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: commercial pilot
- Ratings: rotorcraft: helicopter
- Flight time: 7,222 hours in all; 363 in this make and model; 99 in the last 90 days; 60 in the last 30 days; 7,170 as pilot in command
- Medical certificate: Class 2 (valid medical--no waivers/lim.)
- Seat: rgt
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 1,848 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, March 31, 2000; 33 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 5,000 lb
- Seats: 7
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Allison 250-C47B (turboshaft); 0 hours total
- Operator: Papillon Airways INC.
The flight
- Departed from: GCN AZ at 7:05 pm
- Runway 0
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 230° at 15 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: clear
- Temperature: 61°F (16°C), dew point 18°F (-8°C)
- Altimeter: 30.00 inHg
- Observation at 6:54 pm from GCN, 5 miles away
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 | |||
| Passengers | 5 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Other NTSB records under N175PA the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number LAX00LA156.