- Date
- February 14, 1985, 16:50 local (Feb 15, 1985, 02:50 UTC)
- Place
- Hilo, HI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N58395Hughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850214005859A
- Case key
- 24537
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 helicopter tail boom was damaged by the main rotor blades during a forced autorotative landing. The plt reported that shortly after takeoff at an alt of 4500 ft MSL, the eng N2 dropped to 92% and aprx 15 seconds later, the eng flamed out. Investigation revealed the helicopter was fueled with avgas instead of turbine fuel just prior to takeoff. The eng operating manual approves of this fuel substitution in emergency situations, however, it advised that when avgas is used, the fuel boost pump must be left on. The plt was unable to recall whether or not the pump was on.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N58395
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D (369-D)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 890563D
- Airframe hours
- 18,375
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 4,398 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Sunair Copters, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Ryo Partners
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · February 7, 1985 · 52 hours before
- Departed
- ITO · Hilo, HI
- Destination
- OGG · Kahului, HI
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
- 35
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,345 total · 4,820 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point -0 °F
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 N58395 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.