LAX88LA179 · McDonnell Douglas 369D
Cherry Helicopters McDonnell Douglas 369D · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Waialua, HI to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX88LA179
- 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
McDonnell Douglas 369D
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas 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
- N4943T
- Operator
- Cherry Helicopters
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waialua, HITo 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 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 › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS RETURNING TO ITS LONG LINE PICKUP POINT FOR ANOTHER LOAD WHEN IT ENTERED AN UNCOMMANDED LEFT ROLL. THE PILOT REGAINED CONTROL OF THE HELICOPTER, RELEASED THE LONG LINE CABLE AND ENTERED A SHALLOW, SLOW APPROACH TO A HOVER IN A VACANT AREA. AS THE SKIDS NEARED THE GROUND THE HELICOPTER ROLLED LEFT TO AN ANGLE OF 45 DEGREES, BEGAN TO CLIMB, THEN CRASHED INTO AN IRRIGATION DITCH. THE EXAMINATION REVEALED METAL PARTICLES CONTAMINATING THE TRIM ACTUATOR SWITCH. ACCORDING TO THE MANUFACTURER, THE HELICOPTER IS CONTROLLABLE WITH A MALFUNCTIONING TRIM SYSTEM; HOWEVER, THE CIRCUIT BRAKERS SHOULD BE PULLED. THE PILOT STATED HE RESET THE CIRCUIT BREAKERS.
Probable cause
FAILURE TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES ESTABLISHED BY THE MANUFACTURE FOR UNCOMMANDED TRIM INPUTS AND HIS DECISION TO MAKE A HOVER APPROACH TO LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX88LA179
- Event ID
- 20001213X25726
- Case number
- LAX88LA179
- 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: d5fa77e3f0dab747a77d84e7f9bebd1cac271464133843f45fc73635b87fe096; retrieved 2026-09-21T16:10:39.567Z.