86-24500

[Thunder]

Blackhawk 86-24500 was lost in the early 90's at Ft. Chaffee, Ar. I believe the tail rotor retention washer (then made of aluminum) cracked in half and caused the aircraft to enter a spin. The aircraft was lost and soldiers were killed. I believe the aircraft belonged to 3/160 Nightstalkers.

The accident investigation team requested one of our aircraft (86-24501) to fly over for a comparison.

[Sid Nanson]

The date of the crash was 27th July 1990.

5 miles South of Charleston, near Fort Smith, AR.
Emergency lights on the control panel overloaded the pilots NVG's during night flight and aircraft crashed into a hill.

5 killed, 8 injured

[thunder]

Lights were a factor. The lights on the dash illuminated during autorotation when the engines were pulled off, and those lights blinded the NVG's