- Date
- July 15, 1983, 18:00 local (Jul 16, 1983, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Mesa, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N8773FHughes 269
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830715068889A
- Case key
- 23790
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 instructor was demonstrating a power recovery autorotation to a dry river bed, which he initiated at 500 feet AGL by rolling off the throttle and lowering the collective. Aprx 5 seconds later he observed a change in sound and noticed the engine RPM at 0. He continued to autorotate and overshot the soft gravel area of the soft river bed and touched down in an area covered with large rocks. The right skid broke and the main rotor struck and severed the tail boom. The helicopter came to rest on its right side.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8773F
- Reported as
- Hughes 269
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 0097
- Airframe hours
- 462
- Engine
- Lycoming HO-360-B1B, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Milton R. Barnes
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- P16 · Mesa
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, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,180 total · 100 in this make and model · 3,807 as pilot in command · 320 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 99 °F, dew point 57 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PHX, 11 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 N8773F · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.