Hughes 269C N7400F

Summary

On 19 June 1996 at about 18:40 local time, a Hughes 269C registered N7400F, operated by Olympic Air, Inc., was involved in an accident near Eldon, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 June 1996 at 18:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Eldon, Washington, United States

Coordinates

47.5195, -123.0598

Aircraft

Hughes 269C

Registration

N7400F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Olympic Air, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Shelton → Port Angeles

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA96FA130

1 person died.

fatigue failure of the connecting rod cap, which resulted in loss of engine power and ditching at sea.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While in cruise flight over Hood Canal, the rotorcraft began shaking, and a ground witness heard a 'pop' and observed white smoke. The pilot-in-command executed an intentional ditching, but was unable to swim to shore. The passenger survived. Postcrash examination revealed that the Lycoming HIO-360-D1A engine's number two connecting rod assembly had failed when the cap end had separated. Metallurgical examination revealed that the connecting rod cap had failed from fatigue and that both connecting rod bolts had failed in overload. The fatigue was associated with fretting within the rod cap inner face between the face and the bearing surface.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.