SEA85FA104 · Hughes 369D
Hughes 369D · Accident: in flight collision with object during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA85FA104
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
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
- N8365F
- Operator
- Clifford D. Richey · private individual
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with object
- 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
- Guy wire
- 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 › Clearance, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Visual lookout, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE HELICOPTER WAS ON A FLT TO A TV STATION TO TRANSPORT A TV CAMERA MAN & HIS GEAR. THE REGULAR PLT FOR THIS TRIP WAS UNABLE TO FLY, SO ANOTHER WAS RETAINED FOR THE FLT. THIS WAS HIS 1ST FLT TO THE STATION. HELICOPTER OPERATIONS AT THE TV STATION WERE CONDUCTED FROM A PARKING LOT. AN UNMARKED AREA IN THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE PARKING LOT WAS INTENDED TO BE USED AS A HELIPAD. OPERATIONS TO THE HELIPAD REQUIRED THAT THE HELICOPTER BE MANEUVERED IN THE VICINITY OF TV TOWERS & GUY WIRES. ONE DOUBLE STRAND OF GUY WIRES CROSSED OVER THE PARKING LOT BETWEEN THE CENTER & FAR CORNER OF THE PARKING LOT, AWAY FROM THE HELIPAD, NEAR THE TV STATION (BUILDING). WITNESSES REPORTED THAT THE PLT ENTERED THE PARKING LOT FROM THE NORTHEAST & LANDED NEAR 2 LIGHT STANDARDS BELOW THE DOUBLE STRAND OF GUY WIRES. HE EGRESSED & HELPED THE CAMERA MAN WITHOUT SHUTTING DOWN THE ENG. DURING TAKEOFF, THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES HIT A GUY WIRE & THE HELICOPTER CRASHED & BURNED IN THE PARKING LOT, A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE LIFT-OFF POINT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA85FA104
- Event ID
- 20001214X36600
- Case number
- SEA85FA104
- 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: a5abd8b822a36dfea97b8691da6b8d34a8ec8fc663c997cff6d98d702ed8055b; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:02:19.760Z.