- Date
- September 12, 1984, 16:20 local (23:20 UTC)
- Place
- Clifton, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N57BLAgusta A109
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840912050999A
- Case key
- 24398
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 plt reported that he landed firmly on the ground at the main ramp & went into the 2 min cool down mode for eng shutdown. He stated that immediately after the power levers were retarded to idle, he felt a slight lateral movement of the controls which was followed by an accelerated lateral movement of the helicopter. He stated that the helicopter then went into a violent lateral & forward vibration. He shut off the eng & applied the rotor brake. However, before the vibration stopped, the tailrotor assembly hit the ground & the main gear collapsed. No pre-accident part failure or malfunction was found that would have resulted in the vibration or ground resonance.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57BL
- Reported as
- Agusta A109
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 7199
- Airframe hours
- 583
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Popeye'S Famous Fried Chicken
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 11, 1984 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- SVC · Silver City, NM
- Destination
- SDL · Scottsdale, AZ
- Airport
- Greenlee Co., runway 25, 4,960 × 75 ft, concrete
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 40
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 7,700 total · 110 in this make and model · 7,500 as pilot in command · 175 in the last 90 days · 50 in the last 30 days · 7 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 59 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.