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FTW87FA059 · Sikorsky S-76A

4 Feb 1987 · Angleton, TX, United States

Air Logistics Sikorsky S-76A · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Dennis's Flying Farm Airport (TA86) to Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport (LBX)

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Event

NTSB case
FTW87FA059
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
2 · 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
Instrument Meteorological Cond

Sikorsky S-76A

Aircraft type
Sikorsky S-76
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
N767AL
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Dennis's Flying Farm Airport (TA86), Freeport, TXTo Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport (LBX), Angleton, TX
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
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Visual flight rules (VFR) flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
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 › Aircraft handling, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Design stress limits of aircraft, exceeded
  • Pilot in command › Spatial disorientation
  • Pilot in command › VFR flight into imc, inadvertent

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

NTSB narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TKOF, THE PLT CONTACTED HIS COMPANY (OPNS) & SAID HE HAD INADVERTENTLY ENCTRD IFR CONDS. HE ASKED OPNS TO RELAY INFO TO HIM FM THE APCH PLATE FOR THE ILS RWY 17 APCH TO BRAZORIA COUNTY ARPT. AFTER RCVG THE INFO, HE CONTACTED HOUSTON APCH CTL & ASKED FOR THE ILS. VECTORS WERE PROVIDED & HE WAS CLRD FOR THE ILS; HOWEVER, HE WAS UNABLE TO GET ESTABLISHED ON THE APCH. THREE ATMTS WERE MADE WITH THE LAST BEING A NO-GYRO APCH. DRG THIS TIME, SIMULTANEOUS RADIO CONTACT WAS MAINTD WITH APCH CTL & OPNS. HIS GND SPEED VARIED FM 106 TO 28 KTS. JUST BFR THE ACDNT, HE SAID, '. . . I'VEGOT AN ALTITUDE PROBLEM,' THEN AFTER A SHORT DELAY, HE STATED '. . . I AM GOING TO CRASH.' THE WRECKAGE WAS FND APRX 1 MI NW OF THE OUTER MARKER, SCATTERED OVR A 2445' AREA. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES HAD HIT THE TAIL BOOM & RADOME & SEPD IN FLT. ONE BLADE HAD A PREEXISTING CRACK, BUT BLUE PAINT MATCHING THE TAIL BOOM WAS FND ON THE BLADE. THE1950 CDT WX AT GALVESTON (32 MI ENE), WAS IN PART: 400' OVC, 3 MI VIS WITH FOG & HAZE, WIND FM 080 DEG AT 18KTS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record FTW87FA059
Event ID
20001213X30228
Case number
FTW87FA059
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1987-02-05.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: e3c885532a0107ac2c78be47ad4294f3dabcd4bba09e116d42ca0e958a987787; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:14:18.448Z.