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DEN85LA168

1985-06-18 · GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport GFK

N5203V has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (YAKOVLEV YAK-50, built 1979), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

ON JUNE 18, 1985, A STUDENT PLT AND HIS INSTRUCTOR WERE ON ALOCAL TNG FLT. PRIOR TO COMPLETING THE MISSION, THE INSTRUCTOR HAD HIS STUDENT EXECUTE A 180 DEGREE AUTOROTATION. DURING THE MANEUVER, THE MAIN ROTOR RPM WAS ALLOWED TO DECAY INTO THE CRITICAL RANGE WHICH RESULTED IN A HARD LANDING AND SUBSEQUENTLY DESTROYED THE HELICOPTER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_DEN85LA168.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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