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MKC84FA029 · Aerospatiale AS350D

21 Nov 1983 · Sweet Springs, MO, United States

Rocky Mountain Helicopters Aerospatiale AS350D · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach

From Columbia, MO to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
MKC84FA029
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

Aerospatiale AS350D

Aircraft type
Aerospatiale AS350
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
N5778X
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Columbia, MOTo 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
Approach · VFR pattern downwind
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
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
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

  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inspection, inadequate
  • Engine instruments, egt/tot gage › False indication
  • Manufacturer › Engine instrument, inaccurate
  • Turboshaft engine › Failure, total
  • Turboshaft engine, gas generator turbine › Burned

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

NTSB narrative

THE HELICOPTER LANDED HARD DURING A FORCED LANDING AFTER A POWER LOSS DURING A FERRY FLT. THE PLT STATED THAT AT ABOUT 200 FT TURNING ON A BASE LEG FOR LANDING HE HEARD A LOUD BANG AND THE ENGINE FAILED. A WITNESS SAID HE HEARD THE ENGINE DIE AND SAW THE HELICOPTER DESCEND. THE PLT SAID HE PULLED OFF ROTOR RPM TO EXTEND HIS GLIDE AND IMPACTED THE GROUND ON A SIDEWALK WHILE IN A RIGHT TURN. THE 3 OCCUPANTS WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED. AN EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE BY THE OPERATOR DISCLOSED AN INTERMITTENT ELECTRICAL OPEN OF THE T-4 WIRING HARNESS SPLICE; AEROSPATIALE P/N 320570 EXTENSION LEAD AND P/N 327637 REDUCTION. MOVEMENT OF THE WIRE RESULTED IN A REDUCED INDICATION OF THE T-4 TEMPERATURE GAUGE OF APPROXIMATELY 75 DEGREES AT GROUND OPERATING TEMPERATURES.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MKC84FA029
Event ID
20001214X45155
Case number
MKC84FA029
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: 9e9ae724324ad56ba3185a63a942ed779e6ca51b852123b3bf88ef211b08ff2e; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:44:39.784Z.