2 Sep 2017: HUGHES 369A NO SERIES — LYFT LLC

2 Sep 2017: HUGHES 369A NO SERIES (N50MP) — LYFT LLC

No fatalities • Burnet, TX, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's inadequate inflight decision making, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On September 2, 2017, about 1645 central daylight time, a Hughes 369A helicopter, N50MP, conducted an autorotation near Burnet, Texas. The pilot was not injured, one passenger received minor injuries, and one passenger received serious injuries. The helicopter was substantially damaged during the landing. The helicopter was registered to and operated by Lyft, LLC, Missoula, Montana, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

According to the responding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot and two passengers were conducting aerial hog hunt operations. The helicopter was en route to the Burnet Municipal Airport-Kate Craddock Field Burnet Municipal airport (KBMQ), Burnet, Texas, when the engine lost power. The pilot conducted an autorotation to a road; however, the helicopter landed hard, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage and tailboom.

The FAA inspector used a dip stick to check the fuel tank; the fuel tank was empty. The inspector also looked at the pump/injector and check valve; however, no residual fuel was found. The inspector checked the last place the helicopter was refuel, noting that the station's filters were not contaminated and that other people had purchased fuel and no problems had been reported.

The pilot did not return a completed an NTSB 6120 form.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Fluid level

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 170/06kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.