McDonnell Douglas 369E N8372F

Summary

On 7 September 2023 at about 17:00 local time, a McDonnell Douglas 369E registered N8372F, operated by City of Houston Police Department, was involved in an accident near Arcola, Texas, 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

7 September 2023 at 17:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Arcola, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Houston Southwest (AXH)

Coordinates

29.5063, -95.4758

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas 369E

Registration

N8372F

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1991

Engines

1

Operator

City of Houston Police Department

Operating rule

Public Use

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arcola → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN23LA404

Nobody was injured.

The instructor’s failure to re-apply engine power during a power recovery after a practice autorotation which resulted in a hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an evaluation flight with a company pilot, the instructor pilot reported that he failed to re-apply engine power prior to the completion of a practice autorotation with a power recovery. During the maneuver, the instructor’s attention was diverted from reapplying engine power by an airplane holding short of the runway near their planned touchdown point. The helicopter subsequently landed hard on the runway, which resulted in substantial damage to the tail boom. The instructor reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions of failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.