- Date
- June 7, 1985, 17:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Aiken, SC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9146FHughes 369HS
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850607023729A
- Case key
- 6806
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
During a landing, the eng lost power & the helicopter touched down hard. The plt stated that prior to the 15 min flt, the fuel gage was indicating 125 lbs of fuel & at the accident site it indicated 90 lbs of fuel. A post crash inspection of the fuel system revealed that 3 support brackets were not installed in the fuel cell & only a trace of fuel was remaining. The absence of the brackets permitted the fuel cell to collapse as fuel was consumed & resulted in erroneous fuel gage readings. The fuel low caution indicator was also found to be inoperative due to a cannon plug that was improperly wired.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9146F
- Reported as
- Hughes 369HS
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 830508S
- Airframe hours
- 1,840
- Engine
- Allison 250-C18A, 278 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- South Carolina Helicopter Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · January 13, 1985
- Departed
- Saluda, SC
- Airport
- AIK · Aiken Muni
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
- 70
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 11,664 total · 300 in this make and model · 11,444 as pilot in command · 36 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.