Hughes 369D N41AJ

Summary

On 25 March 2021 at about 17:30 local time, a Hughes 369D registered N41AJ, operated by English Air Service LLC, was involved in an accident near Lake City, Kansas, 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.

Date

25 March 2021 at 17:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Lake City, Kansas, United States

Coordinates

37.3624, -98.8123

Aircraft

Hughes 369D

Registration

N41AJ

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1978

Engines

1

Operator

English Air Service LLC

Operating rule

Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load

Purpose of flight

External Load

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pratt → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN21LA165

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain clearance from power lines during power line maintenance.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that while hovering near power lines, for the purpose of installing bird diverters, a gust of wind pushed the helicopter “into the OPGW wire.” The pilot repositioned the helicopter away from the wire and then saw it fly up and into the rotor system. He immediately started a controlled landing and safely landed the helicopter. The helicopter sustained substantial damage to all five rotor blades. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical anomalies with the helicopter before the wire strike that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot reported that the helicopter operator is adding local weather stations to augment reported weather when the flight crews are working in remote areas. Additionally, for skid operations, the operator has restricted the steady state wind and gust spreads by zone for the helicopter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.