- Date
- July 18, 1986, 07:55 local (12:55 UTC)
- Place
- Morgan City, LA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N57967Aerospatiale AS-355F-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 12, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860718034609A
- Case key
- 25285
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 flew to a nearby arpt to practice takeoffs & lndgs. He rprtd that after 3 lndgs 'out of a hover,' he returned to the departure heliport & lndd again from a hover. Drg touchdown, the helicopter bgn to rock fm side to side & enteredground resonance. The plt rprtd he lowered the collective pitch to the bottom stop, but stated the sideward bouncing fm skid to skid worsened. He reached for the overhead throttles, but was being flailed about the cockpit & could not hold onto them. Subsequently, the helicopter was extensively damaged. Witnesses verified the side to side bouncing & rprtd hearing a loud metallic sound before the helicopter touched down. A post-crash exam revealed the l front, l rear & rgt rear support tubes (gearbox bars) were buckled in a 'd' shape & fractured at midspan. Metallurgical exam of the fractureareas disclosed evidence of high stress, low amplitude fatigue. No history of hard lndgs or maintainance/manufacturing discrepancies were fnd concerning the gearbox bars; l front bar had 1522 hrs of svc, rear bars had 3396 hrs of svc.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N57967
- Reported as
- Aerospatiale AS-355F-1
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 5169
- Airframe hours
- 3,397
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20F, 250 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Mobil Oil Corp.
- Registered owner
- Petrolueum Helicopters Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · July 11, 1986 · 20 hours before
- Airport
- Mobil Oil Heliport
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
- 52
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 16,500 total · 15 in this make and model · 16,400 as pilot in command · 320 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.