Fourth Incident for Hughes 369 Helicopter Proves Fatal – Episode 225
The fatal crash of Hughes 369 helicopter being used to trim trees has a backstory that gives insight into what went wrong. This workhorse of a helicopter apparently had damage from previous incidents.
The NTSB investigation found cracks in an engine mount that were likely present before the crash. John Goglia and Todd Curtis look beyond the fatal accident and share three previous investigations involving this helicopter. Two involved a crash with serious structural damage or a hard landing. These events may have stressed the engine mounts.
The fatal crash happened when the helicopter was in use for an operation that used a large 10-bladed saw to trim trees close to power lines. The helicopter went into a spin and low altitude and crashed, killing the pilot.
This episode highlights the importance of knowing an aircraft’s history. Studying previous events involving a particular aircraft could reveal issues that should be inspected more closely or more frequently. The required 100-hour and 300-hour inspections were completed for the helicopter at the center of this discussion. However, additional inspections would have been smart given the previous accident history of the helicopter.
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