- Date
- March 30, 1989, 17:25 local (Mar 31, 1989, 01:25 UTC)
- Place
- Vallejo, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N5108EHughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 22, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890330005139A
- Case key
- 26362
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 a defective pc tube assembly resulting in a loss of engine power. A contributing factor was the unsuitable terrain.
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
During an air taxi cargo flight engine power was suddenly lost & the pilot autorotated to a landing on a wet marsh. As the aircraft came to rest the main rotors severed the tail boom. Exam of the engine revealed that the pc tube assembly, p/n 6848471, had failed at the scroll fitting ferrule, & this broken line condition produced an immediate loss of engine power. The pc tube had a total of 11.8 hours of use since being installed/manufactured. A metallurgical failure analysis revealed that the pc tube had failed in fatigue.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5108E
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 811075D
- Airframe hours
- 1,697
- Engine
- Allison C250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Helinet, Inc., doing business as Helinet Aviation Services
- Registered owner
- R.S. Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · March 20, 1989 · 12 hours before
- Departed
- 056 · Novato, CA
- Destination
- CCR · Concord, CA
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
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
- 32
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,017 total · 284 in this make and model · 4,933 as pilot in command · 187 in the last 90 days · 84 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.