Southwest Rotors
Also recorded as: Southwest Rotors
Accident & enforcement record
Events that happened, regardless of the operator's own reporting. Each links to its public source.
NTSB accidents & incidents
Operated by Southwest Rotors (per NTSB report)
An in-flight separation of the tail rotor gearbox from the airframe due to fatigue failure of the gearbox attachment studs, resulting in a loss of directional control and subsequent ground impact. Contributing to the accident were 1) the improper application of paint on the clamping surfaces between the tail rotor gearbox and the vertical stabilizer that led to the initiation of fatigue fractures on the gearbox attachment studs and 2) the lack of a requirement to check the torque of the gearbox attachment hardware after installation of a gearbox onto the airframe.
FAA enforcement actions
No FAA enforcement actions linked to this operator.
Maintenance disclosure history
No maintenance difficulty reports on file. Note: SDR filing is largely voluntary, so absence is not evidence of a clean maintenance history.
Linked aircraft
| N-number | Make / model | Year | Status | Link basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N3276T | — | — | Operator named in NTSB report |
Aircraft with earlier records under this certificate
Maintenance and accident records on this page also cover aircraft that are not in this operator's current FAA fleet list. Charter and management fleets change — owners switch management companies, sell, or export aircraft. Where the registry shows what became of a tail, it is noted below.
- N3276T — records 2020 · no longer on the FAA registry