Hughes 269C N53KF

Summary

On 24 July 2003 at about 19:15 local time, a Hughes 269C registered N53KF was involved in an accident near Snohomish, Washington, 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

24 July 2003 at 19:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Snohomish, Washington, United States

Coordinates

47.9081, -122.1053

Aircraft

Hughes 269C

Registration

N53KF

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Snohomish → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA03LA151

Nobody was injured.

The dual students failure to maintain clearance from the terrain during the go-around from a simulated autorotational flare, and the instructor pilot's failure to take adequate remedial action to keep the dual student from allowing the aircraft to impact the terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student was executing a practice power-off autorotation, and during the go-around from the simulated landing flare he applied too much aft cyclic. The instructor, who was simultaneously applying a small amount of up collective to arrest a slight sink, did not take adequate remedial action to keep the student (who is a high-time fixed wing pilot) from applying too much aft cyclic. This resulted in the tail rotor of the helicopter impacting the ground, followed immediately by a loss of tail rotor effectiveness. Soon thereafter, the helicopter began to spin, and the instructor pilot took over total control and executed an emergency landing. After the aircraft's engine was shut down, it was determined that there was damage to both the tail rotor and tail boom.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.