- Date
- September 21, 1990, 18:50 local (23:50 UTC)
- Place
- New Orleans, LA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N71552Hughes 369HS
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 12, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900921061539I
- Case key
- 23050
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain rotor RPM. A factor in the accident was the lose of engine power due to fuel starvation.
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 helicopter was holding to the southwest of the airport at approximately 70 knots and 300 feet AGL awaiting landing clearance when the turbine engine flamed out. The instructor took over the controls and initiated an autorotation to an open athletic field. He flared abruptly to avoid a baseball backstop and landed hard. The main rotor blades drooped and severed the tailboom. Post-accident examination of the fuel system revealed an incorrectly installed float arm. Approximately 250 ml of jet fuel was drained from the main fuel cell. An auxiliary fuel tank was found full of fuel with the pilot cockpit control lever in the off position.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N71552
- Reported as
- Hughes 369HS
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 120365S
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Public aircraft · Part 91
- Operator
- Steel City Aviation
- Airport
- NEW · Lakefront
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
- 43
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 10,250 total · 350 in this make and model · 9,925 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- NEW, 1 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.