- Date
- May 5, 1985, 08:35 local (15:35 UTC)
- Place
- Spokane, WA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N8365FHughes 369D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850505036329A
- Case key
- 40041
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 helicopter was on a flt to a tv station to transport a tv camera man & his gear. The regular plt for this trip was unable to fly, so another was retained for the flt. This was his 1st flt to the station. Helicopter operations at the tv station were conducted from a parking lot. An unmarked area in the northeast corner of the parking lot was intended to be used as a helipad. Operations to the helipad required that the helicopter be maneuvered in the vicinity of tv towers & guy wires. One double strand of guy wires crossed over the parking lot between the center & FAR corner of the parking lot, away from the helipad, near the tv station (building). Witnesses reported that the plt entered the parking lot from the northeast & landed near 2 light standards below the double strand of guy wires. He egressed & helped the camera man without shutting down the eng. During takeoff, the main rotor blades hit a guy wire & the helicopter crashed & burned in the parking lot, a short distance from the lift-off point.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8365F
- Reported as
- Hughes 369D
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 370085D
- Airframe hours
- 1,820
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20B, 375 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Operator
- Clifford D. Richey, doing business as Spokane Helicopter Service Inc
- Registered owner
- Ed Chopot
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · November 20, 1984 · 15 hours before
- Airport
- Unmarked Helipad
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
- 49
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 11,300 total · 1,000 in this make and model · 11,300 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SFF, 4 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.