- Date
- July 30, 1987, 16:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Griffith, IN
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N42405Hughes 369HS
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 8, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870730040529A
- Case key
- 13804
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 tail boom of the helicopter was severed after rotor blade contact during a hard landing. The acc occurred during an autorotation demo for the police dept with a power recovery. Application of power was late and the helicopter landed hard and bounced. The bounce flexed the main rotor into the tail boom.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N42405
- Reported as
- Hughes 369HS
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 9204165
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 278 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Trademasters International
- Registered owner
- Trademasters International
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Airport
- 05C · Griffith
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
- 31
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 4,514 total · 410 in this make and model · 4,382 as pilot in command · 100 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 40° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GYY, 6 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.