McDonnell Douglas 369HS N4265D

Summary

On 23 November 2001 at about 14:09 local time, a McDonnell Douglas 369HS registered N4265D was involved in an accident near Pacific Ocean. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 November 2001 at 14:09

Classification

Accident

Location

Pacific Ocean

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas 369HS

Registration

N4265D

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pacific Ocean → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA032

1 person had minor injuries.

A dynamic roll over due to the pilot's inadequate preflight inspection and failure to ensure that all tiedowns were removed. A factor in the accident may have been the lack of clear communications between the pilot and the shipboard helper assigned as the helicopter ground crewman.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

As the pilot began to lift the fish spotting helicopter off a helipad on a tuna fishing vessel, it rolled off the right side of the ship. The rotor blades hit the side of the ship and the helicopter entered the water inverted and sank. The operator stated that the probable cause was that the right side tiedowns and the APU cable were not removed by the shipboard helper prior to the pilot attempting to liftoff. The pilot reported to the operator that he believed he had checked the tiedowns before getting in the helicopter's left seat, but that it was also hard to see the right-hand side of the aircraft on the pad. The operator also noted that the shipboard helper is a Chinese national who does not speak English well and that communications between the two may not have been good.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.