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LAX94FA197 · Hughes 369D

18 Apr 1994 · Hanapepe, HI, United States

Pacific Aviation International Hughes 369D · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) while maneuvering

From Port Allen Airport (PAK) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
LAX94FA197
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Hughes 369D

Aircraft type
Hughes 369
Category
Helicopter
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N1103N
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Port Allen Airport (PAK), HITo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Maneuvering · hover
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Fuel system, nozzle › Foreign material/substance
  • Fuel system, strainer › Blocked(partial)
  • Manufacturer › Maintenance, service bulletin/letter, inadequate
  • Manufacturer › Procedure inadequate

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT REPORTED THAT WHILE MANEUVERING NEAR A WATERFALL ON A SIGHT-SEEING FLIGHT, THE HUGHES 369D SUSTAINED A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER, DESCENDED, AND LANDED HARD ON ROUGH/ROCKY TERRAIN. AN EXAM OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THE FUEL NOZZLE STRAINER WAS CONTAMINATED AND BLOCKED WITH SODIUM, AND IT WAS PARTIALLY COLLAPSED. TESTS OF THE NOZZLE REVEALED THAT FLOW RATES WERE BELOW THE MANUFACTURER'S SPECIFICATIONS. THE HELICOPTER WAS BEING OPERATED EXCLUSIVELY IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND THE OPERATOR PERFORMED COMPRESSOR WASH PROCEDURES ON A DAILY BASIS. IN A SERVICE LETTER, THE ENGINE MANUFACTURER PRESCRIBED TURBINE ENGINE COMPRESSOR WASH PROCEDURES WHICH RESULTED IN IMMERSION OF THE FUEL NOZZLE IN CONTAMINATED WASH WATER. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF SUBSEQUENT INFILTRATION OF WASH WATER INTO THE FUEL NOZZLE STRAINER. THE FUEL NOZZLE STRAINER HAD A LIFE LIMIT OF 2500 HOURS, BUT ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER, IT WAS NOT SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR ROUTINE INSPECTION REQUIREMENT.

Probable cause

INADEQUATE TURBINE ENGINE COMPRESSOR CLEANING PROCEDURES BASED ON INFORMATION IN THE MANUFACTURER'S SERVICE LETTER, AND LOSS OF ENGINE POWER DUE TO BLOCKAGE OF THE FUEL NOZZLE STRAINER WITH FOREIGN MATERIAL (SODIUM). FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE LACK OF A SPECIFIED SERVICE REQUIRMENT FOR INSPECTION OF THE FUEL STRAINER, AND TERRAIN CONDITIONS IN THE EMERGENCY LANDING AREA.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX94FA197
Event ID
20001206X01118
Case number
LAX94FA197
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: e2778a43eabbe9628e448b21d3c403affeb86d005c95f90d7017c8e436bfb556; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:11:26.200Z.