- Date
- July 9, 1984, 21:00 local (Jul 10, 1984, 02:00 UTC)
- Place
- Franklin, TN
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N52934Hughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840709031189A
- Case key
- 6288
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 acft landed hard & rolled over during an emergency autorotation lndg after the acft eng experienced a flame-out. Theacft had experienced a low fuel warning light earlier in the flt and the plt had made a precautionary lndg after which he and the passenger carried 2 five gallon cans of automotive gasoline to the acft and poured them into the jet helicopter fuel tank. After eng start and takeoff from the farm field the acft climbed to 1800 ft AGL before 'shuddering' with a subsequent eng flame-out. The plt made an autorotation and said he 'though he lost depth perception' when he turned on the lndg lights. The hobbs meter showed 3.5 hrs for a series of 8 flts since the last refueling prior to the accident. The automotive gasoline used by the plt is not an approved alternate fuel for this eng/acft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52934
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 911065D
- Airframe hours
- 767
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Custom Aire,Inc.
- Registered owner
- James W. Wellham
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 9, 1984 · 4 hours before
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
- 39
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,814 total · 381 in this make and model · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 170° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BNA, 17 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.