Hughes 269C N9679F

Summary

On 24 July 2012 at about 23:00 local time, a Hughes 269C registered N9679F was involved in an accident near St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. One person was 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 2012 at 23:00

Classification

Accident

Location

St. Petersburg, Florida, United States

Coordinates

27.8133, -82.6814

Aircraft

Hughes 269C

Registration

N9679F

Category

Helicopter

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St. Petersburg → St. Petersburg

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA12LA477

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to assure that the lateral friction control was released prior to flight.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, the helicopter's last annual inspection had been completed 12 years prior to the accident. On the day of the accident, he decided to fly it to lubricate the parts. After liftoff, he brought the helicopter to a hover about 25 feet in the air and initiated some pedal turns. The nose of the helicopter then began to drift toward the right. He applied left pedal but the helicopter didn’t respond. The helicopter then circled 6 to 8 times, so the pilot lowered the collective, and the helicopter impacted the ground on the left skid, struck a fence, and then rolled over on its left side. However, according to witnesses, the helicopter was about 50 feet in the air, did not circle but moved side to side, and was described as being out of control before it impacted the ground. Total flight time from liftoff to impact was about 2 minutes in duration. Postaccident examination did not reveal any preimpact failures or malfunctions of the helicopter which would have precluded normal operation. However, the cyclic control system would not move freely because the lateral friction control was tightened down. Once the lateral friction control was released, lateral movement of the cyclic control was possible.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.