MIA03TA036 · Hughes OH-6
Hughes OH-6 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Hidden Lake Airport (FA40) to Hidden Lake Airport (FA40)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA03TA036
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
- 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 OH-6
- Aircraft type
- Hughes OH-6
- 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
- N317LC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hidden Lake Airport (FA40), New Port Richey East, FLTo Hidden Lake Airport (FA40), New Port Richey East, FL
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, encountered
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that after takeoff while in a left turn climbing through 600 feet at 60 knots indicated airspeed, he heard a loss of engine power. He stopped the turn and noted that the engine was at flight idle as indicated by the dual tachometer. He verified the throttle was full open, and maneuvered the helicopter towards an open area. He bled off main rotor rpm to clear obstacles that were ahead, and decelerated at 10 feet above ground level. The helicopter touched down with little forward movement, coming to rest upright with the skids and tailboom separated. The helicopter was found to contain a sufficient quantity of fuel to sustain engine operation; no contaminants were reported. Examination of the engine revealed the fuel inlet line "B" nut was found loose by 2 1/2 flats at the fuel inlet nozzle. The fuel inlet line was drained and found to contain approximately 1 teaspoon of fuel while the fuel filter was full of fuel. The engine control rigging was found to be in limits. An abnormal sound was heard during testing of the aircraft fuel shutoff valve. Operational testing of the valve revealed it was operational but rotation of the valve body occurred with rotation of the valve. The engine was removed from the helicopter and transported to the manufacturer's facility. Prior to the engine run, the bleed air valve was found failed in the closed position; the internal spring was found unwound. The engine was operated in the presence of an FAA airworthiness inspector with a new bleed valve and the accident bleed valve installed; no appreciable difference was noted with respect to starting temperature, acceleration times, or stabilized operation. A customer bleed line that attaches to the scroll was found loose, it was tightened followed by engine operation. The line was loose when checked following the engine run. No significant findings were noted during the engine runs. Safety concerns prevented operation of the engine with the as-found position of the loose "B" nut at the fuel nozzle; however, a valve was installed to divert fuel from the fuel nozzle simulating the as-found position of the loose "B" nut. During the engine run, the valve was opened 1/4 and the engine operated normally. The valve was opened to 1/2 then 3/4, the engine continued to operate normally though the fuel flow increased. The valve was then fully opened and the engine flamed out. Several hours before the accident, a mechanic performed a compressor wash. It was common practice for the mechanic to clean the fuel nozzle when he performed a compressor wash.
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate preflight of the helicopter following maintenance he observed, and failure of maintenance personnel to tighten the "B" nut at the fuel nozzle following a compressor wash resulting in the total loss of engine power. Also, the pilot's intentional decay of main rotor rpm while attempting to clear obstructions and unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing resulting in a hard landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA03TA036
- Event ID
- 20030110X00046
- Case number
- MIA03TA036
- 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, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2003-01-03.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7b893fdf82bb893ca9a78e4166dcd4a99526d65057c94c612b91893abab08b4f; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:18:05.119Z.