Incident Overview
On March 9, 2026, at approximately 1517 Pacific daylight time, an MD Helicopters 369FF, registration N530XX, was destroyed in an accident near Mojave, California. The pilot sustained fatal injuries. The helicopter was operating under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 133 as an external load flight.
Flight Details
The helicopter was performing power line rope stringing operations between steel power transmission poles within a wind farm located in the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains, about 6 miles west of Mojave. The aircraft was equipped with a side hook mounted to the left side of the airframe just below the aft door, which was attached to a stringing rope. The operation required the pilot to maneuver the rope onto pulley blocks located at the end of the power pole cross arms. Depending on the block type and location, the pilot would either guide the rope unaided or have a technician in the bucket of a boom lift truck assist by hand.
Sequence of Events
The pilot had been flying since about 0730 that morning and had performed multiple uneventful stringing operations prior to the accident flight. For the accident flight, the pilot planned to guide a 600-foot length of rope into a stringing block mounted about 110 feet above ground level, with assistance from a technician in a bucket. The boom truck operator and bucket technician were both in position as the helicopter lifted the rope, which was already strung from a power pole about 600 feet to the south.
Both ground personnel reported that operations up to that point were normal. The helicopter was in a vertical climb, clear of obstructions, and carrying the full length of the rope from the adjacent pole. However, once the helicopter reached about 200 feet above ground level, the technician in the bucket heard a pop sound followed by silence. The boom truck operator, who was facing away from the helicopter, heard a pop and then a whizzing sound, and out of the corner of his eye saw the helicopter rapidly descending. The bucket technician watched as the helicopter rapidly descended, and the rope released from the hook. By the time the helicopter struck the ground, the main rotor blades had almost completely stopped spinning.
Both ground personnel stated they did not see any smoke or vapor trailing from the helicopter at any time up to the impact, nor did they hear any unusual sounds until the event. The helicopter did not contact any ropes, poles, or cables at any time.
A witness located about one-third of a mile north-northwest and 100 feet above the accident site was in his truck at the time. He was not actively watching but looked up when the helicopter sound abruptly stopped. He observed the main rotor blades slowing as the helicopter rapidly descended, and as it approached the ground, he saw the helicopter yawing from side to side. The helicopter then struck the ground in a level attitude and erupted in flames.
Wreckage and Impact
The helicopter came to rest in the northwest corner of a level dirt field, about 180 feet south of an east-west road. The field was bounded to the north by a set of power transmission poles and lines about 80 feet in height, and to the west by a parallel set of 195-foot-tall power distribution poles that the crew were working on.
The helicopter came to rest right-side-down on a northeast heading. The tailboom and tail rotor assembly were largely intact, with almost no damage to the tail rotor blades. The rest of the structure forward of the engine bay sustained significant thermal damage, consuming the entire cabin, fuel tank, instrument panel, along with most of the flight controls and the lower section of the main transmission.
All five main rotor blades remained partially attached and equally spaced around the burnt remnants of the hub assembly on top of the main cabin. All blades exhibited similar upward bending deformation along their entire length, with almost no evidence of leading-edge gouges or chordwise scratches.
The airframe remnants, engine, and transmission were retained for further examination.