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LAX90LA191 · Hughes 369FF

24 May 1990 · Madera, CA, United States

Rogers Helicopters Hughes 369FF · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering

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Event

NTSB case
LAX90LA191
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 369FF

Aircraft type
Hughes 369
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
N530R
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 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
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 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

  • Turboshaft engine › Undetermined

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE HELICOPTER LOST POWER DURING AN OUT OF GROUND EFFECT (OGE) HOVER, AUTOROTATED TO A CULTIVATED FIELD, AND ROLLED ONTO ITS SIDE. THE HELICOPTER HOVERED AT 110 FEET PREPARING TO HOOK UP AN EXTERNAL LOAD. THE PILOT HEARD A 'WHOOSH' SOUND AND ENTERED AUTOROTATION WITH TURN. THE PILOT MANEUVERED THE HELICOPTER ABOUT 180 DEGREES DUE TO OBSTACLES AND AUTOROTATED INTO A SOFT PLOWED FIELD. THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN WITH FORWARD MOMENTUM. THE HELICOPTER THEN PITCHED TAIL UP ALLOWING THE FORWARD PORTION OF THE MAIN ROTOR DISK TO STRIKE THE GROUND. THE HELICOPTER THEN ROLLED ONTO ITS SIDE. EXAMINATION OF THE MAINTENANCE AND FLIGHT DEPARTMENT RECORDS REVEALED NO UNRESOLVED MAINTENANCE DISCREPANCIES AGAINST THE HELICOPTER BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. THE HELICOPTER ENGINE WAS EXAMINED. THE ENGINE WAS PLACED IN A TEST CELL AND WAS RUN IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT FUEL FLOW CONFIGURATIONS. THERE WERE NO DEFICIENCIES NOTED.

Probable cause

THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE UNSUITABLE TERRAIN ENCOUNTERED BY THE PILOT WHEN HE TURNED DURING THE AUTOROTATIVE DESCENT TO AVOID OBSTACLES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX90LA191
Event ID
20001212X23190
Case number
LAX90LA191
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: 3ad46180496d172c1d33edbbea02ac6effe0c199e1d8a24e84d8ec3bc067a28e; retrieved 2026-09-23T06:10:57.365Z.