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Temsco Helicopters Hughes 369D accident

12 Aug 1987 · Ketchikan, AK, United States

Hughes 369D and Ketchikan Air Service Cessna 185E · Accident: midair collision en route

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Event

NTSB case
SEA87FA162
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
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

Aircraft 1 · Hughes 369D

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
N58318
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From ANNETTE ISLAND, AKTo Ketchikan, AK
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 · 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
Midair collision
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Aircraft 2 · Cessna 185E

Aircraft type
Cessna 185
Category
Airplane
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
N73WS
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo HUMPBACK LAKE, AK
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
Takeoff
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
Midair collision
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

  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
  • Pilot of other aircraft › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Visual lookout, inadequate

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

NTSB narrative

N58318 (HUGHES 369, UNDER CONTRACT WITH US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY) WAS INBND FM SE TO LND AT KETCHIKAN-TEMSCO HELIPORT (6Z4) AS N73WS (CESSNA 185 AMPHIBIAN) WAS DEPG SE FM KETCHIKAN INTL ARPT (KTN). KTN & 6Z4 WERE LOCATED IN TONGASS NARROWS WITHMTNS NE & SW. RPRTD WX WAS: 500' SCT, 1100' BKN, 2200' OVC, VIS 5 MI WITH LGT RAIN & FOG, CIG RAGGED. FOR A VFR APCH TO 6Z4 (APRX 1-1/2 MI NORTH OF KTN ARPT), N58318 HAD TO GO UP THE NARROWS & OVR OR NR KTN. KTN HAD NO CTL TWR, BUT SUB- PART M OF FAR 93 REQD 2-WAY RDO COMM WITH KTN FSS, WHILE OPERG BLO 3000' & W/I 3 MI OF KTN. AT 1318:58, N58318 RPRTD AT GRAVINA PT (APRX 4 MI SE OF KTN) & THE FSS PROVIDED TRAFFIC ADZR. AT 1319:19, N73WS RPRTD INTENTIONS TO DEPART FROM KTN & WAS GIVEN A TRAFFIC ADZY, INCLUDING INFO CONCERNING N58318. N73WS DEPD KTN, USING PARALLEL TWY NEXT TO RWY 11, IAW LTROF AGREEMENT. NRLY 1 MI SE OF KTN, THE TWO COLLIDED AS N58318 WAS FLYING NEAR THE EXTDD CNTRLN OF RWY 11. N58318 CRASHEDIN WTR; N73WS RETURNED & CRASH LNDD AT KTN. FIVE ACFT IN VCNTY OF KTN; FAA DATA INDCD HVY TRAFFIC AT KTN FM MAY TO SEP.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA87FA162
Event ID
20001213X31929
Case number
SEA87FA162
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: daa4808f1442a3fe4fb0e6287ead7c9300e87ec271f745fc13ecc38a1f0189fc; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:13:37.928Z.