Hughes 269 N8773F

Summary

On 16 July 1983 at about 01:00 local time, a Hughes 269 registered N8773F was involved in an accident near Mesa, Arizona, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

16 July 1983 at 01:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Mesa, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

33.4292, -111.7097

Aircraft

Hughes 269

Registration

N8773F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX83LA340

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE INSTRUCTOR WAS DEMONSTRATING A POWER RECOVERY AUTOROTATION TO A DRY RIVER BED, WHICH HE INITIATED AT 500 FEET AGL BY ROLLING OFF THE THROTTLE AND LOWERING THE COLLECTIVE. APRX 5 SECONDS LATER HE OBSERVED A CHANGE IN SOUND AND NOTICED THE ENGINE RPM AT 0. HE CONTINUED TO AUTOROTATE AND OVERSHOT THE SOFT GRAVEL AREA OF THE SOFT RIVER BED AND TOUCHED DOWN IN AN AREA COVERED WITH LARGE ROCKS. THE RIGHT SKID BROKE AND THE MAIN ROTOR STRUCK AND SEVERED THE TAIL BOOM. THE HELICOPTER CAME TO REST ON ITS RIGHT SIDE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.