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LAX88LA059

1987-11-26 · LIHUE, KAUAI, Hawaii, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LIH

N77DJ has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CIRRUS DESIGN SF50, built 2021), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

PILOT FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE MAIN ROTOR RPM.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT, WHO WAS ALSO A CERTIFICATED AIRFRAME & POWERPLANT MECH, RECENTLY CHANGED THE TAILBOOM ASSY. AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT HE WAS CONDUCTING A MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHT. THE PILOT EXECUTED ONE AUTOROTATION WITH A POWER RECOVERY. THE PLT REENTERED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN. GND WITNESSES REPTD THAT WHEN THE HELICOPTER ENTERED THE BASE LEG THEY HEARD AN EXPLOSIVE SOUND FOLLOWED BY THE TAILBOOM ASSY SEPARATING FROM THE HELICOPTER. THE WRECKAGE EXAM DSCLSD THE MAIN ROTOR BLADE STRUCK THE TAILBOOM. THE TAIL ROTOR BLADES WENT OUT OF TRACK AND STRUCK THE VERTICAL FINS, SEPARATING THE UPPER VERTICAL FIN. NO EVIDENCE OF ANY PREEXISTING MALFUNCTIONS WAS FOUND. THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES EXHIBITED LOW ROTOR RPM DAMAGE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1987_LAX88LA059.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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