- Date
- April 14, 1984, 10:10 local (18:10 UTC)
- Place
- Kent, WA
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1092LHughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840414043759A
- Case key
- 39895
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 requested clearance to transit the seattle tca for a landing at Boeing field. He was advised of a DC-10 departing the seattle-tacoma intl arpt & was cautioned about possible wake turbulence. The DC-10 passed the helicopter with about 1 1/2 mi lateral separation & was about 600 ft higher than the helicopter. Shortly after that, the helicopter encountered violent vortex turbulence. It exceeded 90 deg of bank & 90 deg of nose down attitude, at which time, the eng flamed out. The turbulence continued thru-out the ensuing autorotation, but diminished during the last 100 to 200 ft. the plt tried to flare for a landing, but the main rotor blades flexed downwind & contacted the tail boom. During recovery, less than 1 qt of fuel was found in the helicopter.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1092L
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 410940D
- Airframe hours
- 1,411
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 420 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Ferry · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Auto Publications,Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 3, 1984 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- PDT · Pendleton, OR
- Destination
- BFI · Seattle, WA
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Helicopter, Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 9,200 total · 505 in this make and model · 9,000 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 70 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SEA, 7 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.