WPR19LA168 · Sikorsky UH19 D
Sikorsky UH19 D · Accident: hard landing during autorotation
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR19LA168
- 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
- 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
Sikorsky UH19 D
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky UH19
- 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
- N955TC
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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
- Autorotation
- 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
- Hard landing
- 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
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot-in-command (PIC) was evaluating another pilot as a new job applicant. While the applicant-pilot was manipulating the helicopter controls, the PIC heard a “bang” and noted an overspeed indication on the tachometer. He subsequently took control of the helicopter and performed an autorotation that resulted in a hard landing, which substantially damaged the helicopter. The Federal Aviation Administration and operator surmised that the main drive line system clutch and torque converter failed, which resulted in the engine overspeed. However, the operator did not respond to investigators or submit a NTSB Form 6120.1, Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Incident Report, nor was a follow-up examination of the helicopter able to be scheduled and performed by the NTSB investigator. Due to the operator’s lack of cooperation during the investigation, the NTSB investigator was unable to definitively determine the cause of the accident.
Probable cause
A reported mechanical malfunction and a hard landing for reasons that could not be determined based on available evidence.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR19LA168
- Event ID
- 20190529X35604
- Case number
- WPR19LA168
- 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, cause areas. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2019-05-29.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 2cedc147db91d7903f7716ff70e5ed414f428fdbfcd05265df40b798d85025b6; retrieved 2026-09-16T09:05:47.990Z.