McDonnell Douglas 369FF N630N

Summary

On 12 February 2004 at about 18:55 local time, a McDonnell Douglas 369FF registered N630N was involved in an accident near Mesa, Arizona, 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

12 February 2004 at 18:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Mesa, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Falcon Field Airport (FFZ)

Coordinates

33.4608, -111.7283

Aircraft

McDonnell Douglas 369FF

Registration

N630N

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesa → Mesa

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX04CA122

Nobody was injured.

the pilot's inadequate compensation for the wind gusts and subsequent failure to maintain directional control of the helicopter, which resulted in a hard landing. A contributing factor was a wind gust.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The helicopter's main rotor blades struck the tail boom following a hard landing. The pilot was demonstrating full-touchdown, practice autorotations for a potential customer. Before touching down, about 2 feet above ground level, the helicopter encountered a gust of wind and the nose turned 45 degrees to the left. The pilot applied right pedal pressure to counteract the sudden drift, but was unable to get the helicopter back on centerline. During touchdown, the helicopter landed hard and skidded about 4 feet until it came to rest without incident. A few seconds later, the pilot heard a loud noise. The main rotor blades had collided with the tail boom. The pilot did not report any mechanical problems with the helicopter prior to the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.