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FTW85FA130

1985-03-02 · SAN ANTONIO, Texas, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport SSF

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED DURING A ZERO GROUND SPEED PRACTICE AUTOROTATION. A HIGH SINK DEVELOPED AFTER AN ATTEMPT TO CORRECT FOR DECREASING ROTOR RPM, THE HELICOPTER CONTACTED THE GROUND TAIL FIRST AND ROLLED OVER AFTER THE MAIN ROTOR SEVERED THE TAIL BOOM. AN EXPERIENCED HELICOPTER PLT WHO WITNESSES THE ACCIDENT STATED THAT THE AUTOROTATIONS WERE TERMINATED ABRUPTLY WITH AN EXTREMELY NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1985_FTW85FA130.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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