ATL97LA067 · Hughes 269A
Hughes 269A · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering
From X07 to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL97LA067
- 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 269A
- 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
- N37754
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From X07To 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
- 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 engine power
- 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
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Flare, improper
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Rotorcraft flight controls, improper use of
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The certified flight instructor (CFI) was demonstrating a 180 degree turn autorotation with a power recovery. The CFI entered the maneuver approximately 600 feet above the ground. About 3/4 through the 180 degree turn, he noticed that the rotor speed was low. When the CFI decided to return the throttle to full power, there was no engine response. The CFI continued the approach, which resulted in a hard landing on the heel of the left skid, and the helicopter rolling over. Examination of the helicopter failed to disclose a mechanical problem or a system malfunction. During a functional check of the engine, it operated between idle and a moderated power range. Examination of the airframe disclosed that the skids were spread, and the landing gear damper assembly was fractured. According to FAA Advisory Circular, AC 61-13A, during the flare phase of an autorotation, the cyclic control should be moved forward to level the helicopter in preparation for landing. The advisory circular also stated that 'if a landing is to be made, allow the helicopter to descend vertically. Apply collective pitch smoothly to check the descent and cushion the landing.'
Probable cause
loss of engine power for undetermined reason(s); and the flight instructor's improper flare and improper use of the flight controls, while flaring for an autorotative landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL97LA067
- Event ID
- 20001208X07849
- Case number
- ATL97LA067
- 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: c47f0af383a51a18c182a108cbd0094039965efc95746446d99452bbdd972910; retrieved 2026-09-22T19:49:48.833Z.