McDonnell Douglas MD-600 N600RN

Summary

On 28 May 1996 at about 14:11 local time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-600 registered N600RN was involved in an accident near Thermal, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

28 May 1996 at 14:11

Classification

Accident

Location

Thermal, California, United States

Coordinates

33.9903, -117.3793

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas MD-600

Registration

N600RN

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX96LA207

Nobody was injured.

inadequate design of the stress limits for cyclic control of the helicopter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight was part of an engineering test flight series to complete the Part 27 certification for a new rotorcraft. The specific test point was part of a flight strain survey and involved cyclic control reversals. The pilot had set the parameters and executed the cyclic control inputs as planned. Almost simultaneous with the aft movement of the cyclic there was a loud noise and immediate vibrations in the aircraft and the controls. A pilot in the chase aircraft informed the pilot that a main rotor blade had struck and severed the tail boom. A power off autorotation was accomplished without the tail rotor system. The resultant hard landing was onto a pile of dry brush which was ignited by the hot engine exhaust. The brush fire destroyed the aircraft.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.