- Date
- July 4, 1985, 18:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Blakley, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8429Quinn EL Tomcat MK-5A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850704029909A
- Case key
- 31424
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
While en route to reposition the helicopter to another farm, the eng lost power. The plt reported that during an autorotation, the main rotor lost some RPM as he stretched his glide to avoid a fence. As the helicopter touched down on uneven terrain, the main rotor blades struck the tail boom. An exam of the eng revealed that a connecting rod had failed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8429
- Reported as
- Quinn EL Tomcat MK-5A (EL TOMCAT)
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 100A
- Airframe hours
- 1,689
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-A1D, 240 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Early Ag Service Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 22, 1984 · 94 hours before
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
- 57
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 20,000 total · 3,650 in this make and model · 150 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DHN, 30 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.
Other investigations on N8429 · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.