Hughes 269C N7452F

Summary

On 26 October 2003 at about 20:15 local time, a Hughes 269C registered N7452F was involved in an accident near Hillsboro, Oregon, 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

26 October 2003 at 20:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Hillsboro, Oregon, United States

Nearest airport

Stark's Twin Oaks Airpark (7S3)

Coordinates

45.4239, -122.9411

Aircraft

Hughes 269C

Registration

N7452F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hillsboro → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA04LA011

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's selection of unsuitable terrain for a practice auto rotation landing. A contributing factor was the soft terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor initiated a demonstration of a low altitude auto-rotation while moving forward in a hover at a "brisk walk." The planned touchdown site was to a grassy area slightly east of the runway environment and upon touchdown, the helicopter's skids encountered soft terrain and dug in and the helicopter rocked forward up onto the toes of the skids. Immediately thereafter, the main rotor blades contacted the ground and the helicopter came to rest on the forward skid toes and the main rotor mast. The instructor reported that there was no mechanical malfunction with the helicopter at the time of the event and the terrain at the selected site for the auto rotation was soft.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.