Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Darrington, Washington 98241
Monday, August 11, 2014 11:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On August 11, 2014, about 1130 Pacific daylight time (PDT), a Hughes 269C helicopter, N7432F, impacted terrain following a partial loss of engine power near Darrington, Washington. Snohomish Flying Service (SFS) was operating the helicopter under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The airline transport pilot sustained minor injuries; the helicopter sustained substantial damage by impact forces. The cross-country personal flight departed Snohomish, Washington, about 0815, with a planned destination to return to Snohomish. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The pilot reported that during a flight in the rented helicopter he was descending out of 5,000 feet, and as he approached 4,000 feet, he increased collective. He noticed that the engine was slowing down and he was unable to recover the engine rpm to a normal range. The helicopter continued to descend until the pilot entered an autorotation. The helicopter impacted a tree about 30 feet high and then came to rest in a small stream.
The pilot stated he did not believe the engine ever quit, but the engine would not produce enough power to continue flight.
The helicopter was recovered on August 12, 2014, by Snohomish Flying Service and examined by FAA inspectors and assisted by SFS personnel who found that the throttle mount bracket was hanging by the throttle cable linkage and not secured to the servo mount studs as it should have been. This would cause the loss of throttle movement for acceleration.
The operator stated that the engine had recently been installed, about 10 flight hours prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/11/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1130 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Darrington |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98241 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 481615N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1211232W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1735 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AWO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 407 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KAWO 111735Z AUTO 30006KT 10SM CLR 25/16 A29 |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 25 2014 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7432F |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA340 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | HUGHES |
| Aircraft Model | 269C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 160458 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Helicopter |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 3 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SNOHOMISH FLYING SERVICE INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9900 AIRPORT WAY STE C |
| Aircraft Owner City | SNOHOMISH |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 982968260 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SNOHOMISH FLYING SERVICE INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 9900 AIRPORT WAY STE C |
| Operator City | SNOHOMISH |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 982968260 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | S43 |
| Departure City | SNOHOMISH |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 815 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | S43 |
| Destination City | SNOHOMISH |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 25 2014 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |