- Date
- September 18, 1982, 11:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Marshville, NC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9575FHughes 269C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 18, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820918047579A
- Case key
- 71596
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
The instructor pilot (ip) and the student (a private, single engine land, pilot) were on a dual instructional flight. After completing several hover autorotations and hovering patterns, the ip took control. He positioned the helicopter for an autorotation from 500 ft AGL with a power recovery. When entering the autorotation, there was a misunderstanding concerning who was to fly and who was to follow through on the controls. The student thought he was to follow through, but reportedly, the ip thought the student had assumed control. As the helicopter approached the ground, the ip took control and flared; however, during touchdown, the tail rotor struck the ground. The student stated that previously, the microphone system had an intermittent problem which was thought to have been repaired. He believed the problem occurred again and contributed to the misunderstanding.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9575F
- Reported as
- Hughes 269C
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 440295
- Airframe hours
- 5,439
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- U.S. Helicopters
- Registered owner
- U.S. Helicopters
- Departed
- Marshville, NC
- Destination
- Marshville, NC
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 8,385 total · 1,845 in this make and model · 7,899 as pilot in command · 73 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Temperature
- 169 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N9575F · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.