- Date
- February 20, 2024, 09:15 local (19:15 UTC)
- Place
- Hana, HI · Open field
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N690WAHughes 369D
- Defining event
- Enroute: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20240220000799A
- Case key
- 193819
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to ensure the passenger’s gear was properly secured before departure.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that after landing at a remote landing zone (LZ) to pick up a single passenger, the passenger loaded their gear in the aft right seat and secured it with a seatbelt. While enroute, the two occupants heard a “loud and violent bang” and the nose of the helicopter moved to the right and vibrations followed. The pilot looked back at the tail rotor, saw it was spinning freely, and confirmed the tail rotor drive train had failed. The pilot performed an autorotation to an open field. A post flight inspection revealed that the passenger’s rain pants were missing from the aft right seat. It was determined that the rain pants had exited the helicopter and impacted the tail rotor resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage, tail boom, horizontal stabilizer and tail rotor assembly and gearbox. The pilot stated that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the helicopter that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N690WA
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 1170237D
- Built
- 1978
- Airframe hours
- 22,452.3
- Engine
- Rolls-Royc 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Other work use · Public use
- Operator
- Windward Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Windward Aviation Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 12, 2024 · 20.2 hours before
- Departed
- PHOG · Kahului, HI
- Destination
- PHOG · Kahului, HI
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Equipment
- Satellite tracking device, ADS-B
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 32
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- December 4, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 3,488 total · 2,412 in this make and model · 3,425 as pilot in command · 132 in the last 90 days · 43 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.20 inHg
- Turbulence
- Light
- Observed at
- PHOG, 25 nm away
- METAR
- PHOG 201954Z 00000KT 10SM FEW050 24/12 A3020 RMK AO2 SLP231 T02440122
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 2, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 6.6 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.