- Date
- June 4, 1988, 12:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lihue, HI
- Injuries
- 5 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N53EPFairchild Hiller FH-1100
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 16, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880604071489A
- Case key
- 26024
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Fatigue failure of the engine to transmission drive shaft engine coupling due to an angular misalignment of the drive shaft.
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 pilot said that the aircraft was in normal cruise flight when he noticed that the engine was no longer driving the rotor system. The pilot entered an autorotation and had to stretch the glide slightly to a suitable landing area on an off shore reef. The helicopter made a hard landing on the reef in about one foot of water. On site examination of the helicopter by FAA airworthiness inspectors revealed that the bendix coupling on the engine to transmission shaft had ruptured on the engine end of the shaft. Metallurgical examination of the failed coupling revealed a fatigue fracture in a circumferential orientation on the coupling disk. The drive shaft couplings are the subject of a recurring AD which mandates alignment measurements of the drive shaft every 100 hours. The last alignment check was done about 60 hours prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N53EP
- Reported as
- Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 182
- Airframe hours
- 2,023
- Engine
- Allison 250-C18C, 274 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Preston S. Myers
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · May 13, 1988 · 62 hours before
- Departed
- LIH · Lihue, HI
- Destination
- LIH
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
- 40
- Certificates
- Commercial, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 6,032 total · 134 in this make and model · 5,846 as pilot in command · 123 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 14 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.