Hughes 369A N911EP
6 August 2020 · St Louis, Missouri, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 6 August 2020 at about 20:15 local time, a Hughes 369A registered N911EP, operated by St Louis County Police Department, was involved in an accident near St Louis, Missouri, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 20:15
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- St Louis, Missouri, United States
- Nearest airport
- Spirit of St Louis Airport (KSUS)
- Coordinates
- 38.6636, -90.6447
- Aircraft
- Hughes 369A
- Registration
- N911EP
- Category
- Helicopter
- Operator
- St Louis County Police Department
- Operating rule
- Public Use
- Purpose of flight
- Public Use
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- St Louis → St Louis
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- CEN20CA326
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Probable cause
The flight instructor's failure to maintain helicopter control which resulted in a hard landing while preforming a practice autorotation.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The instructor reported that during the instructional flight, he was manipulating the controls and accepted the option to land on the taxiway; he decreased the throttle for a full touchdown auto rotation. About 50 ft above the ground (agl), he flared the helicopter and leveled off about 5 to 10 ft agl. The instructor reported that everything seemed "normal" at this point. He then raised the collective, but the descent was not arrested, so he raised the collective full up. The helicopter landed hard and shook violently. The instructor closed the throttle to which stopped the fuel supply. The tailboom was substantially damaged. The flight instructor reported that there were no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation. The instructor added that he felt a slight tailwind after exiting the helicopter and that the tail wind caused a "vortex ring state" which stalled the main rotor blades.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Hughes 369 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct 2020 | Hughes 369 | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | Windward Aviation Inc | No injuries | - |
| 5 Aug 2020 | Hughes 369 | Delia, Kansas, United States | Signature Utility | No injuries | - |
| 25 Apr 2020 | Hughes 369 | Pylesville, Maryland, United States | Haverfield International Incorporated | No injuries | - |
| 29 Dec 2020 | Hughes 369D | Tuckers Crossing, Mississippi, United States | Signature Property Holdings LLC | Fatal | 1 |
| 25 Mar 2021 | Hughes 369D | Lake City, Kansas, United States | English Air Service LLC | No injuries | - |
| 9 Jan 2021 | Hughes 369D | Winthrop, Washington, United States | - | No injuries | - |
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 2020 | Cessna 172 | Higginsville, Missouri, United States | University of Central Missouri | No injuries | - |
| 6 Feb 2020 | Beechcraft 200 | St Louis, Missouri, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 22 Aug 2020 | Cessna 180 | St Louis, Missouri, United States | Casement Llc | Serious injuries | - |
| 24 Aug 2020 | Cessna 180 | Lebanon, Missouri, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 26 Nov 2020 | Cessna T182T | Hollister, Missouri, United States | Private Individual | No injuries | - |
| 19 Feb 2020 | Cessna 177RG | Chesterfield, Missouri, United States | - | No injuries | - |