Forced/precautionary landing involving a Hughes Helicopters 269C, VH-UFX, 38 km east of Napier Downs, Western Australia, on 5 March 1994

After flying through some heavy showers, the pilot detected a vibration in the aircraft. He knew that the main rotor abrasion tapes sometimes came loose in rain, and when he detected a performance loss, he suspected that loose tapes may have been the reason for the vibration. He decided to land to remove the tapes. With maximum power selected, the pilot could not arrest the sink rate during the approach for the run on landing, and the helicopter landed heavily and bounced. As a result of the hard landing, the main rotor blades severed the tail boom.

Damage to the main rotor blades was such that it could not be determined if the blade tape had lifted prior to the accident. No other defects were discovered that could have contributed to the loss of performance.