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MIA89FA004

1988-10-05 · VERO BEACH, Florida, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport VRB

N8602F has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (BOEING 737-8H4, built 2012), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE PLT STATED THAT WHILE DOING A STUCK LEFT PEDAL MANEUVER, THE HELICOPTER WAS FLOWN WITH A 5 DEGREE YAW TO THE LEFT. AS THE AIRSPEED ZEROED, THE COLLECTIVE WAS BROUGHT IN TO BRING THE NOSE AROUND AND LIGHT CONTACT WAS MADE WITH THE GROUND. HE THEN STATED THAT GROUND RESONANCE STARTED AND PROGRESSED SO RAPIDLY THAT THE HELICOPTER DESTROYED ITSELF ALMOST IMMEDIATLY. POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION OF THE THREE BLADE FRICTION DAMPERS REVEALED EVIDENCE THAT SUGGESTS THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE BRONZE PLATES INSIDE THE DAMPERS WERE WORN BEYOND ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE HAD STOPPED THREE TIMES DURING THE FLIGHT TO RE-PHASE THE MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_MIA89FA004.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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