- Date
- July 28, 1982
- Place
- Near Bornite, AK
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious; on the ground: 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N820YHughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 28, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19820728035729A
- Case key
- 71849
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Two workers were transported to a mine drilling site where the helicopter was landed on a man-made heli-pad. The heli-pad was an area about 50 ft long and 12 ft wide that had been cut into the side of a rocky hill. After off-loading the workers, the pilot took off, then returned a short time later with a 300 gal storage tank on a long line. After the tank was lowered into position, the helicopter was landed at the end of the pad until the line was released. As the pilot took off again, he lifted off and was at an altitude of about 3 to 5 ft when the main rotor blades contacted the rocky embankment on the upslope side of the heli-pad. Reportedly. The helicopter then went into an uncontrollable spin and tumbled about 300 ft down the hill. One of the workers was fatally injured by a piece of flying debris.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N820Y
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 900797D
- Airframe hours
- 906
- Engine
- Allison 250C-20B, 375 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 133
- Operator
- Sunshine Copters
- Registered owner
- Sunshine Copters
- Departed
- Near Bornite, AK
- Destination
- Near Bornite, AK
- Flight plan
- Unknown
- Airport
- (Remote Field Site)
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 4,851 total · 247 in this make and model · 247 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.