Md Helicopters Llc 369FF accident near Superior, AZ
On January 2, 2026, a Md Helicopters Llc 369FF (helicopter) was involved in an accident near Superior, AZ. 4 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- January 2, 2026
- Place
- Superior, AZ
- Aircraft
- Md Helicopters Llc 369FF · Helicopter
- Injuries
- 4 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 33.240°N, 111.122°W
- NTSB ID
- 20260102202237
NTSB summary
On January 2, 2026, at about 1100 mountain standard time, an MD Helicopters MD369FF helicopter, N3502P, was substantially damaged when it impacted a highline/slackline near Superior, Arizona. The pilot and three passengers were fatally injured. The helicopter was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Slacklining is a sport where a participant balances on a 1 to 3 inch wide piece of webbing made from synthetic fiber that is suspended between two fixed points. A subset of the sport, called highlining, entails rigging the slackline at higher altitudes above terrain, and often involves longer slacklines. Typically, a highline/slackline consists of a mainline that the participant balances on, and a backup line that the participant connects their safety harness to. The mainline is tensioned between two anchors, and the backup line is loosely attached to the mainline with intermittent connectors. According to a witness, on or around December 26, 2025, he and a group of friends traveled to the area near the accident site, which consisted of a valley with terrain elevations that ranged between 2,600-3,500 ft mean sea level (msl). Using two anchors spaced on bluffs about 0.74 mile apart, they raised a signalization line that carried five windsocks and about ten LED lights. After the signalization line was raised, they used additional nylon lines to draw the mainline and backup lines between the anchors. (See Figure 1.) The lines were oriented in a generally north/south direction and were estimated to be about 600 ft above the ground at their high
More accidents in AZ
- De Havilland DHC-6-300, Sep 27, 1989
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Browse: Arizona · Md 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.
