WPR15FA205 · Schweizer 269C
Precision Aviation Training Schweizer 269C · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) on approach
From Chehalem Airpark (17S) to Chehalem Airpark (17S)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR15FA205
- 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
- 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
- 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
Schweizer 269C
- Aircraft type
- Schweizer 269
- 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
- N2096W
- Operator
- Precision Aviation Training
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chehalem Airpark (17S), Newberg, ORTo Chehalem Airpark (17S), Newberg, OR
- Aircraft age
- About 11 years (built 2004)
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, not marked as estimated; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The instructor and student were conducting a night orientation flight. According to a witnesses who worked for the operator, about 15 minutes after the helicopter departed, he heard what sounded like an engine rollback and the helicopter making an autorotation. This was followed by the sound of an increase in engine rpm and the drive belts squealing, culminating with the sound of the helicopter making a loud thud-type noise. Another witness stated that the engine sounded rough and that the helicopter was making a high pitch whining/squealing sound, after which it went silent. A third witness also heard the helicopter making high pitch noise just before the accident. The helicopter was subsequently located in an open field near the departure airport; a postcrash fire erupted, which consumed the helicopter.
A postaccident examination of the lower coupling drive shaft showed evidence of severe wear completely around the forward spline that extended beyond the root of the spline teeth. Severe wear of the forward spline teeth could have been caused by a loss of alignment between the engine and the drive shaft or an inflight loss of lubrication in the rubber boot. The rubber boot that retains grease for the forward spline portion of the drive shaft was not recovered and was presumed missing. Loss of grease coverage for the forward spline, either from a rupture of the rubber boot or a loss of the clamp for the rubber boot, could cause sudden inflight wear and overheating of the spline teeth. Severe wear of the forward spline portion of the lower coupling drive shaft most likely led to sudden and complete loss of translational/rotational power between the engine and the transmission. The reason for the severe wear of the forward spline could not be definitively determined due to fire damage and the loss of associated components, which were not located during the investigation.
Probable cause
The loss of translation/rotational power between the engine and the transmission due to the severe wear of the forward spline portion of the lower coupling drive shaft. The reason for the severe wear of the forward spline could not be definitively determined due to fire damage and the loss of associated components, which were not located during the investigation.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR15FA205
- Event ID
- 20150702X24434
- Case number
- WPR15FA205
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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 2015-07-02.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 64e317c881b00e8c8e0426161fe357f1607895c16bf319c6cda9cd28244afd1f; retrieved 2026-09-14T19:45:26.839Z.