- Date
- September 24, 1985, 18:00 local (Sep 25, 1985, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Porterville, CA
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N29707Hughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850924075939A
- Case key
- 24845
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
After climbing to a cruise alt of 13500 ft MSL to cross the sierra Nevada mountains, south of mt whitney, the plt entered cruise flt at an indicated airspeed of aprx 120 to 130 KTS. The plt's flt manual lists 110 KTS as the velocity velocity to never exceed at this pressure alt and temp. The plt stated that he first felt a rapid vibration in the anti-torgue pedals. He said he then entered a descent. As the acft descended to aprx 300 ft AGL it was jolted and directional control was lost. The plt stated that he made an uncontrolled forced landing and crashed on a mountain at an elevation of 9000 ft. both the plt and his passenger survived for 2 1/2 days before being found by hunters.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N29707
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 670148D
- Airframe hours
- 1,424
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Michael G. Dawson, doing business as North Valley Helicopter
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 3, 1985 · 7 hours before
- Departed
- FAT · Fresno, CA
- Destination
- LAS · Las Vegas, NV
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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- NID, 37 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.