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ATL87FA009

1986-10-20 · NASHVILLE, Tennessee, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport BNA

N2204Z has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (WESLEY CHARLES H KR 2, built 1994), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PLT WAS IN A DESCENT TOWARD A BUILDING IN A DOWNTOWN AREA WHICH HE WANTED AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF. AT ABOUT 1700 FT AGL HE REPORTED THE HELICOPTER JERKED HARD AND YAWED TO THE LEFT. HE INITIATED AN AUTOROTATION AND DURING THE DESCENT TO THE SELECTED LANDING SITE HE HAD TO BLEED OFF ROTOR RPM TO CLEAR WIRES ACROSS THE APCH PATH. A HARD LANDING RESULTED IN A STREET INTERSECTION. POST ACCIDENT INSPECTION REVEALED THE SPUR ADAPTER GEARSHAFT FORWARD SPLINES WERE SEVERELY WORN. THE FORWARD END OF THE GEARSHAFT WAS FRACTURED. THE FRACTURE HAD ORIGINATED FROM THE SHAFT SPLINE TEETH. THE OIL DELIVERY TUBE FOR THE FORWARD SPLINE LUBRICATION DID NOT MEET REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE ENGINE MANUFACTURER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_ATL87FA009.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.