LAX93LA063 · Hughes 269B
Hughes 269B · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX93LA063
- 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
- N9566F
- Operator
- Maui Wing and Rotor
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Altitude, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Rotor RPM, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A HUGHES 269B DITCHED IN THE OCEAN AFTER AN INFLIGHT LOSS OF CONTROL. THE HELICOPTER WAS IN CRUISE FLIGHT ABOUT 100 FEET ABOVE THE WATER. THE PILOT DESCENDED TO ABOUT 20 FEET ABOVE THE WATER AND DECELERATED TO ABOUT 20 MILES PER HOUR. THE HELICOPTER BEGAN TO VIBRATE AND THE MAIN ROTOR RPM BEGAN TO DROP. THE PILOT TURNED RIGHT AND INCREASED THE THROTTLE. THE PILOT NOTICED THE MANIFOLD PRESSURE INCREASED COMMENSURATE WITH THE THROTTLE APPLICATION; HOWEVER, THE ROTOR RPM CONTINUED TO DROP. THE PILOT LOWERED THE COLLECTIVE TO REGAIN MAIN ROTOR RPM BUT DUE TO THE LOW ALTITUDE THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED INTO THE WATER. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT A TAIL WIND EXISTED WHEN THE HELICOPTER EXPERIENCED THE LOSS OF MAIN ROTOR RPM. THE WINDS AT THE LOCAL AIRPORT LOCATED 1.5 MILES FROM THE ACCIDENT SITE WERE REPORTED TO BE FROM 110 DEGREES AT 12 KNOTS GUSTING TO 29 KNOTS AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT. THE PILOT HAD ACCRUED 75 HOURS IN HELICOPTERS OF WHICH 40 HOURS WERE IN THE ACCIDENT HELICOPTER MAKE AND MODEL AND 30 HOURS WERE AS PILOT IN COMMAND.
Probable cause
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE ROTOR RPM DURING DOWNWIND FLIGHT AND ADEQUATE ALTITUDE TO RECOVER THE LOSS OF MAIN ROTOR RPM BEFORE SETTLING INTO THE WATER. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT'S LACK OF ROTORCRAFT FLIGHT EXPERIENCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX93LA063
- Event ID
- 20001211X16180
- Case number
- LAX93LA063
- 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: b92fa4ec72d7f5c128a99199e6583e9c305bb3ed7430aa95a587251d80ac4f1b; retrieved 2026-09-23T02:26:42.694Z.