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LAX94LA306 · Hughes 269C

5 Aug 1994 · PUUNENE, MAUI, HI, United States

Hughes 269C · Accident: loss of control in flight during landing

From Kahului International Airport (OGG) to Kahului International Airport (OGG)

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Event

NTSB case
LAX94LA306
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
0 · 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 269C

Aircraft type
Hughes 269
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
N8376F
Operator
James C. Hobbs · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Kahului International Airport (OGG), Kahului, MAUI, HITo Kahului International Airport (OGG), HI
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
Landing · flare/touchdown
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
Loss of control in flight
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Landing gear, main gear shock absorbing strut › Low compression
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, annual inspection, inadequate
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, overhaul, improper
  • Pilot in command(cfi) › Ground resonance, inadvertent
  • Rotor system, main rotor hub lead-lag stop/damper › Overtorque

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Puʻunēnē, HI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE STUDENT WAS PERFORMING A PRACTICE AUTOROTATION AND AT 10 FEET HE BEGAN TO INCREASE THE COLLECTIVE TO CUSHION THE TOUCHDOWN. THE CFI SAID THE MAIN ROTOR RPM WAS LOW AND HE ADDED THROTTLE TO TOUCHDOWN WITH POWER. A GROUND RESONANCE VIBRATION BEGAN AND HE LIFTED OFF THE GROUND. THE VIBRATION CONTINUED AND HE ROLLED THE THROTTLE OFF AND SET THE HELICOPTER ON THE GROUND, THEN IT ROLLED OVER ON ITS SIDE. THE LANDING GEAR DAMPERS AND MAIN ROTOR DAMPERS WERE REMOVED AND TESTED AT THE FACTORY. THE RIGHT REAR AND LEFT FRONT MAIN LANDING GEAR DAMPERS HAD CHARGE PRESSURES BELOW ACCEPTABLE FACTORY SPECS. THE RIGHT FRONT AND LEFT REAR DAMPERS WERE FOUND TO BE WITHIN FACTORY SPEC RANGES. ALL THREE MAIN ROTOR DAMPERS WERE FOUND TO BE ADJUSTED TO EXCESSIVE FRICTION TORQUE VALUES. THE RED BLADE DAMPER WAS ASSEMBLED INCORRECTLY WITH A PLATE STACK UP IMPROPER FOR ANY VERSION OF THE DAMPER ASSEMBLY. THE HELICOPTER WAS IN STORAGE FOR 2 YEARS PRIOR TO JUNE 1994, WHEN IT WAS LEASED TO THE OPERATOR. THE RED BLADE DAMPER HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM ANOTHER HELICOPTER, OVERHAULED, AND PLACED IN SPARE PARTS INVENTORY, THEN PUT ON THE RED BLADE ON JULY 20, 1994.

Probable cause

the improper overhaul of the red blade main rotor damper, and the inadequate maintenance condition of the other rotor dampers and the landing gear dampers, which led to an uncorrectable ground resonance vibration and a subsequent rollover.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX94LA306
Event ID
20001206X02068
Case number
LAX94LA306
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: 6f81deb38132db44ffd9385aa5c1bb7b4b76552ed4be10aca7be7479c23bf6af; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:51:14.430Z.