{"airworthiness_class":"","airworthiness_date":"","airworthiness_ops":"","category":"conventional","cert_issue_date":"1992-08-17","city":"HELENA","country_code":"US","county_code":"049","cruise_speed_mph":null,"data_date":"2026-10-02","documents":[],"eng_mfr_mdl":"","engine_horsepower":null,"engine_maker":"","engine_model":"","engine_thrust_lb":null,"expiration_date":"2028-01-31","fractional_owner":0,"is_company":1,"is_electric":0,"is_unmanned_cert":0,"kind":"helicopters","kit_mfr":"","kit_model":"","last_action_date":"2023-04-14","maker":"Bell","maker_country":null,"maker_raw":"BELL","maker_segment":null,"mfr_mdl_code":"1181407","mode_s_code":"51120624","mode_s_hex":"A4A194","model":"UH-1H","n_number":"N398M","name":"USDA FOREST SERVICE FEPP","ntsb_checked":true,"ntsb_records":[{"city":"Townsend","damage":"DEST","date":"2021-06-15","highest_injury":"NONE","ntsb_no":"WPR21LA236","probable_cause":"The pilot\u2019s failure to maintain helicopter control after an encounter with settling with power during approach at an altitude that was too low for recovery, which resulted in a hard landing.","registration":"N398M","state":"MT","summary":"Accident on June 15, 2021 at Townsend, MT: no injuries, destroyed.","type":"ACC"}],"num_engines":1,"other_names":"STATE OF MONTANA / DEPARTMENT OF LANDS","plain_english":"N398M is a Bell UH-1H, a rotorcraft with turboshaft engines (a helicopter or multicopter). It has 15 seats. It is registered to Usda Forest Service Fepp, a government body in Helena, Montana. The registration is valid: it was issued on August 17, 1992 and expires on January 31, 2028. No airworthiness certificate is on file, which is normal for drones and for aircraft still being built or tested.","records_check":[{"finding":"Valid registration to Usda Forest Service Fepp, a government body, certificate issued August 17, 1992, expires January 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded.","item":"Registration and identity","source":1,"status":"CLEAR"},{"finding":"No airworthiness certificate is on file. Usual for a newly registered aircraft, a project, or an aircraft that has not flown since a change of registration; ask for the certificate.","item":"Airworthiness certificate","source":1,"status":"ATTENTION"},{"finding":"No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 65-09984 for this model in the deregistered file.","item":"Prior registrations of this airframe","source":2,"status":"CLEAR"},{"finding":"N398M was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Travel Air C-4000 (serial 1318, cancelled March 19, 1937). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number.","item":"Tail number reuse","source":2,"status":"ATTENTION"},{"finding":"No bills of sale, loans or releases have reached the registry in recent weeks. The index covers only recent filings; older liens are in the records file.","item":"Recent registry documents","source":3,"status":"NOTE"},{"finding":"1 NTSB record under N398M: Accident on June 15, 2021 at Townsend, MT: no injuries, destroyed. Details below.","item":"Accident and incident record","source":4,"status":"ATTENTION"},{"finding":"These live in the FAA aircraft records file (every document ever filed against the aircraft) and, for larger aircraft, the International Registry. Part of the full report.","item":"Title chain, liens and 337 forms","source":null,"status":"PENDING"},{"finding":"AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.","item":"Airworthiness directives and utilization","source":null,"status":"PENDING"}],"records_check_sources":[{"n":1,"name":"FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file","url":"https://registry.faa.gov/"},{"n":2,"name":"FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download)","url":"https://registry.faa.gov/"},{"n":3,"name":"FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks","url":"https://registry.faa.gov/"},{"n":4,"name":"NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL)","url":"https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/basic-search"}],"region":"Northwest Mountain","region_code":"S","registrant_type":"Government","registrant_type_code":"5","seats":15,"serial_number":"65-09984","source":"FAA Civil Aviation Registry, Releasable Aircraft Database","state":"MT","status":"Valid registration","status_code":"V","status_short":"Valid","street":"C/O DEPT OF NATURAL RESOURCES","street2":"PO BOX 201601","type_aircraft":"Rotorcraft","type_aircraft_code":"6","type_engine":"Turboshaft","type_engine_code":"3","unique_id":"00383872","url":"https://eflight.com/aircraft/N398M","watchlist_group":null,"watchlist_note":null,"weight_class":"","year_mfr":null,"zip":"596201601"}