- Date
- April 27, 1986, 13:18 local (17:18 UTC)
- Place
- Mt Clemens, MI
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N2194UBrantly Helicopter B-2B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860427014509A
- Case key
- 13456
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
After aprx 20 successful takeoffs & landings, the eng of the helicopter lost power at about 300 ft AGL, due to a #1 connecting rod failure. During an autorotation, the helicopter landed in trees & was destroyed. Although the pilot was instructing a new student pilot, he held no FAA flying certificate. The last annual inspection of the helicopter was dated 12/2/75. A teardown of the eng revealed discrepancies in the installation of the #2, #3 & #4 rod caps. Due to the damage, proper installation of the #1 rod cap could not be verified.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2194U
- Reported as
- Brantly Helicopter B-2B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 405
- Engine
- Lycoming IVO-360-A1A, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Edward C. Thomas
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 2, 1975 · 12 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
- 41
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 8 in this make and model · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 8 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DET, 15 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.
Other investigations on N2194U · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.