- Date
- June 28, 1984, 13:19 local (20:19 UTC)
- Place
- Palos Verde Est, CA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9400FHughes 269B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840628027589A
- Case key
- 23969
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
Gnd witnesses obsvd helicopter into normal turn at 500 ft AGL followed by a violent rt turn. During the violent turn the tail rotor assy separated & the main rotor blades coned upwards. The helicopter went into a near vertical descent & crashed. Wreckage exam disclose the tail rotor hub teetering fork bolt & both pitch chg lnks sustained ovld fractures. The fork assy showed extensive blade impact marks. Both tail rotor blades trail edges exhibited abrasive signatures & were delaminated. The tail skid separated & was fractured @ midspan & its lt side showed tail rotor blade rub marks. Metal & chem analysis disclsd the epoxy bonding material was weakened by a foreign substance. Both tail rotor blades were xrayed and painted 25 flt hrs prior to the accident. No evidence was found to indicate the pilot had flown a helicopter within 11 months preceding the accident. The plt had accumulated 50 helicopter flt hrs, 15 of which were as PIC.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9400F
- Reported as
- Hughes 269B
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 124-0145
- Airframe hours
- 4,246
- Engine
- Lycoming HIO-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- The Geradin Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Unknown · May 28, 1984 · 24 hours before
- Departed
- TOA · Torrance, CA
- Airport
- TOA · Torrance
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
- 26
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TOA, 5 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 N9400F · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.