Cri Helicopters McDonnell Douglas MD-500D accident
McDonnell Douglas MD-500D · Accident: dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid while standing
From MOUNTAIN TOP, AK to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- ANC92LA090
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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
McDonnell Douglas MD-500D
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas MD-500
- 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
- N8395F
- Operator
- Cri Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From MOUNTAIN TOP, AKTo 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Standing · idling rotors
- 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
- Dragged wing, rotor, pod, float or tail/skid
- 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
- Company/operator management › Procedures/directives, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Rotor drive system, tail rotor drive shaft › Sheared
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT LANDED THE HELICOPTER ON UNSTABLE TERRAIN AND WHEN HE AND THE OTHER FRONT SEAT PASSENGER EXITED BEFORE THE REAR PASSENGERS THE HELICOPTER ROCKED BACKWARDS AND THE TAILROTOR STRUCK THE MUSKEG WHILE THE MAIN ROTOR WAS STILL TURNING SLOWLY. THE PILOT EXAMINED THE DRIVE TRAIN FOR DAMAGE AND FOUND NONE AND ELECTED TO FLY BACK TO HIS BASE OF OPERATIONS. DURING THE FLIGHT THE TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT SEPARATED AND HE LOST TAIL ROTOR THRUST. THE PILOT EXECUTED A LANDING IN THE WATER. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT AND THE CHIEF PILOT, THERE IS NO INFORMATION IN THE COMPANY OPERATIONS MANUAL OR THE TRAINING MANUAL INDICATING WHAT ACTION HE SHOULD TAKE AFTER A BLADE STRIKE HAS OCCURRED. ACCORDING TO THE CHIEF PILOT THE PILOT DID NOT FOLLOW THE VERBAL PROCEDURE WHICH REQUIRES HIM TO REMAIN INSIDE THE HELICOPTER UNTIL THE BLADES STOP ROTATING.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW PROPER PROCEDURE AND THE COMPANY'S INADEQUATE PROCEDURES AND DIRECTIVES. A FACTOR WAS THE UNEVEN TERRAIN.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ANC92LA090
- Event ID
- 20001211X14753
- Case number
- ANC92LA090
- 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: 236289c6888c2bd3c56aaf2cfca754c9f5c45ab825ef07b169b58d4fad3c7eb3; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:46:31.927Z.