ATL94LA002 · Hughes 269B
Hughes 269B · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL94LA002
- 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 269B
- 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
- N9333F
- Operator
- Peterson, William E. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- En route · climb to cruise
- 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
- In flight encounter with weather
- 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 › Airspeed, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Compensation for wind conditions, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER TOOK OFF FROM A PRIVATE GOLF COURSE IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THE ELEVATION WAS AT THE UPPER LIMIT OF THE HELICOPTER'S CAPABILITY TO HOVER IN GROUND EFFECT. AFTER DEPARTURE, A CLIMBING TURN WAS MADE TO THE NORTHEAST. ABOUT 300 FEET AT 40-45 MPH, THE TAIL PITCHED UP, ROTOR RPM DECAYED, AND THE HELICOPTER BEGAN LOSING ALTITUDE. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT THE HELICOPTER ROTATED CLOCKWISE ABOUT ITS VERTICAL AXIS. THE WIND WAS FROM THE WEST ABOUT THREE TO SIX KNOTS. AN AUTOROTATION WAS INITIATED. AFTER TURNING 180 DEGREES, TO THE WEST, TREES WERE OVERFLOWN WHICH THE TAIL ROTOR CONTACTED. AFTER TURNING BACK INTO THE WIND, DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WAS REGAINED AND THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN, HARD, ON THE GOLF COURSE. MANUFACTURER'S PERSONNEL STATED THAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS ACCIDENTS THAT INVOLVED A LOSS OF TAIL ROTOR EFFECTIVENESS (LTE). AN OWNER'S MANUAL FOR THE ACFT WAS CONSULTED. NO INFORMATION WAS PROVIDED REGARDING THE CONDITIONS CONDUCIVE TO LTE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED THAT WOULD HAVE AVOIDED A LOSS OF TAIL ROTOR EFFECTIVENESS (LTE), AND HIS IMPROPER COMPENSATION FOR TAILWIND CONDITION. A FACTOR WAS THE LACK OF INFORMATION IN THE PILOT'S OPERATING HANDBOOK REGARDING THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH LTE MAY OCCUR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL94LA002
- Event ID
- 20001211X13517
- Case number
- ATL94LA002
- 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: 4c08e5ea2dd113065ee7560b68f8d31a1aad98b2d7bcb1e047d19b0d849d8613; retrieved 2026-09-23T01:33:21.213Z.