Hughes 269C N7432F

Summary

On 11 August 2014 at about 18:30 local time, a Hughes 269C registered N7432F was involved in an accident near Darrington, Washington, 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

11 August 2014 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Darrington, Washington, United States

Coordinates

48.2708, -121.2089

Aircraft

Hughes 269C

Registration

N7432F

Category

Helicopter

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Snohomish → Snohomish

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR14LA340

Nobody was injured.

Maintenance personnel’s failure to secure the throttle mount bracket during a recent engine installation, which resulted in the loss of throttle movement and an inability to control engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was conducting a local, personal flight in the rented helicopter. The pilot reported that, while descending the helicopter from 5,000 ft and approaching 4,000 ft, he increased the collective and noticed that the engine was slowing down; he was unable to recover the engine rpm to a normal range. The helicopter continued to descend until the pilot entered an autorotation. The helicopter then impacted a tree and came to rest in a small stream. The pilot stated that he did not believe that the engine ever quit but that it did not produce enough power to continue flight. Postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed that the throttle mount bracket was hanging by the throttle cable linkage and was not secured to the servo mount studs, which would have led to the loss of throttle movement for acceleration. The operator stated that the engine had been installed in the helicopter 10 flight hours before the accident. It is likely that maintenance personnel did not properly secure the throttle mount bracket during the engine installation, which led to the loss of throttle movement and inability to control engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.