Hughes 369 accident near Franklin, PA
On July 22, 2009, a Hughes 369 (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Franklin, PA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- July 22, 2009
- Place
- Franklin, PA
- Aircraft
- Hughes 369 · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 39.807°N, 79.683°W
- NTSB ID
- 20090722X34202
Official records · ERA09FA414
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On July 22, 2009, about 1125 eastern daylight time, a Hughes 369D, N61735, was substantially damaged during a forced landing in an open field in Forbes State Forest, near Franklin, Pennsylvania, while enroute to a temporary landing location. The certificated commercial pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133. The helicopter arrived in Pennsylvania from California on July 4, 2009, and was being contracted to gather 200 to 250 pound bags of seismic monitoring equipment from remote locations in the heavily wooded area and reposition them to the temporary landing site or another location. Since the helicopter had arrived, it had recorded approximately 72.9 hours of flight time, moving the seismic monitoring equipment within a 20-square mile area. On the morning of the flight, the accident pilot attended a safety briefing conducted by the contracting company at 0600 along with the operator for the contract. About 0730 the pilot and operator departed the safety briefing for that day's operation. According to the operator and the company's daily time sheet, the pilot performed a pre-flight inspection of the accident helicopter, as was his custom, started the helicopter's engine about 0934, and departed at 0939. The flight returned to the temporary landing area about 1010 to re-fuel for the next flight. The accident flight departed about 1030 and flew to pre-determined locations in order to retrieve a total of 4 bags carrying se
Probable cause
A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's fuel mismanagement.
More accidents in PA
- Boeing B-737-300, Sep 8, 1994
- Boeing 757, Sep 11, 2001
- British Aerospace J-3101, May 21, 2000
- Bell UH-1N, May 29, 2008
- Beech A36, Jul 30, 1989
Browse: Pennsylvania · Hughes aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
