- Date
- September 6, 1986, 19:15 local (Sep 7, 1986, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Waterloo, AL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N9181FHughes 369HS/H-500
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860906044649A
- Case key
- 7187
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 lifted off the top of the support truck and started a takeoff with a partial load of chemicals to be applied to a logged over forest area. About 10-15 feet after lift off the plt detected a loss of rotor RPM. He was at the edge of a ravine with steep sides and had no landing area available. He descended the side of the ravine and performed a modified autorotation into the tops of the trees at the bottom of the ravine. The ground support man reported seeing a puff of smoke at about the time the plt reported the power loss. The acft was recovered and examined. No malfunctions were discovered which prevented the eng from running. The eng was removed and shipped to the factory where it was run in a test cell. It performedwell. A records check revealed that he eng was shipped to bell helicopter as a new 'o' time engine. It was installed in the Hughes approximately 19 months prior to the accident. The installation was inspected and approved by the FAA.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9181F
- Reported as
- Hughes 369HS/H-500 (369HS/H-50)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 3405715
- Airframe hours
- 2,894
- Engine
- Allison 250C18, 278 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Burgundy Farms Inc.
- Registered owner
- Burgandy Farms, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 25, 1986 · 16 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
- 37
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,787 total · 52 in this make and model · 3,845 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MSL, 65 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.