ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 169254
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| Date: | Monday 11 August 2014 |
| Time: | 11:30 LT |
| Type: |  Hughes 269C |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N7432F |
| MSN: | 160458 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1976 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 3015 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming HIO-360-D1A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Darrington, WA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Snohomish, WA (S43) |
| Snohomish, WA (S43) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The commercial pilot was conducting a local, personal flight in the rented helicopter. The pilot reported that, while descending the helicopter from 5,000 ft and approaching 4,000 ft, he increased the collective and noticed that the engine was slowing down; he was unable to recover the engine rpm to a normal range. The helicopter continued to descend until the pilot entered an autorotation. The helicopter then impacted a tree and came to rest in a small stream. The pilot stated that he did not believe that the engine ever quit but that it did not produce enough power to continue flight.
Postaccident examination of the helicopter revealed that the throttle mount bracket was hanging by the throttle cable linkage and was not secured to the servo mount studs, which would have led to the loss of throttle movement for acceleration. The operator stated that the engine had been installed in the helicopter 10 flight hours before the accident. It is likely that maintenance personnel did not properly secure the throttle mount bracket during the engine installation, which led to the loss of throttle movement and inability to control engine power.
Probable Cause: Maintenance personnel’s failure to secure the throttle mount bracket during a recent engine installation, which resulted in the loss of throttle movement and an inability to control engine power.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
http://aerossurance.com/helicopters/throttle-maintenance-error/
Location
Media:
#OTD in 2014: A pilot has a lucky escape auto-rotating into a ravine after the throttle bracket came loose 10 hours after installation. https://t.co/pX5akB8Dd0 #helicopter #accident #aviationmaintenance #flightsafety #aviationsafety pic.twitter.com/WLlRjp4M6Y
— Aerossurance (@Aerossurance) August 11, 2022
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Aug-2014 05:45 | Aerossurance | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:28 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 05-Nov-2017 08:47 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-May-2018 19:15 | Aerossurance | Updated [Time, Location, Source, Damage] |
| 11-Aug-2022 07:49 | Aerossurance | Updated [Source, Embed code] |
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