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| Date: | Thursday 8 March 1990 |
| Time: | 11:16 |
| Type: |  Aérospatiale AS 350D Astar |
| Owner/operator: | Sinquanon Management Co |
| Registration: | N5778W |
| MSN: | 1394 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1980 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 1576 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming LTS-101-600A2 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Atlantic Ocean, 3 miles off Miami, Dade County, Florida -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Fisher Island, Florida |
| Cat Cay, Bahamas (MYCC) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
THE HELICOPTER WAS IN CRUISE FLIGHT OVER THE OCEAN, WHEN THE PILOT HEARD A LOUD NOISE & NOTED A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. HE ENTERED AN AUTOROTATION & TOLD THE PASSENGERS TO PUT ON THEIR LIFE JACKETS. AT ABOUT 100 FT ABOVE THE WATER, HE DEPLOYED THE EMERGENCY FLOATS, THEN SUCCESSFULLY LANDED IN THE OCEAN ABOUT 3 MILES FROM SHORE. AFTER LANDING, A WAVE HIT THE HELICOPTER & IT ROLLED OVER. THE PILOT & PASSENGERS GOT ONTO THE BELLY OF THE HELICOPTER, THEN THE PILOT DOVE UNDER THE WATER & RETRIEVED THE ELT [EMERGENCY LOCATION TRANSMITTER]. HOWEVER, AFTER HE ACTIVATED THE ELT, ANOTHER WAVE HIT & THE PILOT DROPPED IT AS HE REACHED TO HELP A PASSENGER. ONE PASSENGER EXPIRED ABOUT 8 HOURS LATER & THE OTHER PASSENGER EXPIRED ABOUT 15 HOURS AFTER THE ACCIDENT. BOTH DIED FROM DROWNING. THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED AT ABOUT 11:15 EST; THE COAST GUARD WAS NOTIFIED OF THE SITUATION AT 15:30 EST. THE PILOT WAS RESCUED AT 04:30 EST THE NEXT DAY [17 HOURS LATER]. A SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT A POWER TURBINE BLADE HAD FAILED FROM FATIGUE, WHICH RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER.
CAUSE: FATIGUE FAILURE OF AN ENGINE TURBINE BLADE, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF POWER. ROUGH OCEAN WATER IN THE EMERGENCY LANDING AREA WAS A RELATED FACTOR.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001212X22756&key=1
2. FAA: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?omni=Home-N-Number&nNumberTxt=5778W
3. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentdetails.aspx?accidentkey=11553
4. http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/1990/A90_112_114.pdf
5. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1990/1990-19.htm
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 01-Jul-2014 19:29 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:22 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency, ] |
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