NTSB FTW88FA036 — 1987-12-07 · GALVESTON, Texas, United States

N3910U has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (PIPER PA-28-161, built 2005), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

N3910U Bell 412 Serious

Factual narrative

THE ACFT LANDED HARD IN THE GULF OF MEXICO DURING AN AUTOROTATION THAT WAS ENTERED FOLLOWING THE SEPARATION OF THE 90 DEGREE GEARBOX. THE GEARBOX (WITH TAIL ROTOR BLADES) SEPARATED DUE TO AN IMBALANCE. HOWEVER, THE GEARBOX WAS NOT RECOVERED DURING THE INVESTIGATION AND THE CAUSE OF THE IMBALANCE COULD NOT BE DETERMINED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_FTW88FA036.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type. All research papers

NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper Best Practices for Training the Structures Flight Test Engineer

The Structures Flight from 412th Test Wing and the Aerostructures Branch at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base have developed a set of best practices for training a struct…