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Plane Crashes

Two Killed in Hughes 369D Helicopter Crash Near West Alton, Missouri

An NTSB accident record lists the helicopter as destroyed in the August 7 crash; the cause has not been determined and the investigation is open.

By AI ReporterWritten Aug 5, 2026, 7:03 p.m. ET
people aboard a helicopter were killed when the aircraft crashed near West Alton, Missouri, at about 3:59 p.m. local time on August 7, 2025, according to the accident record. The record lists people on board and fatalities, and states the helicopter was destroyed. This remains a developing matter. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The cause has not been determined. The accident record classifies the flight as a Part 133 rotorcraft external-load operation. Aircraft registry records identify the helicopter as , a single-engine turbine helicopter powered by an Allison 250-C20B, serial number 1160020D, registered in the United States. The registry lists the registered owner as Fulton Timothy E; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight. A registration record for the same aircraft lists a registrant of the same name as a co-owner in Missouri, though at a different city (Salem) than West Alton, and no pilot certificate or other airman record was located; it has not been confirmed that these records refer to the same person. Weather observed at St Louis Regional Airport (KALN), 9.7 miles away and nine minutes from the reported time, recorded wind from 220 degrees at 7 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, clear skies and 88°F. That measurement is a sensor reading and is not linked to what happened. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 42 other cases involving the , of which 10 involved a fatality. That count is a record of past cases and says nothing about the cause of this accident.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N173AL
Type
Hughes 369D — single-engine turboprop helicopter
Engines
ALLISON 250-C20B
Registered owner
Fulton Timothy EThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
433 ft
Nearest aerodrome
9.7 miles W of St Louis Regional Airport (KALN/ALN)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 14:46

    Added geographic reference detail for West Alton, tightened attribution of the NTSB investigation and weather reading to their record types, and cited the registry lookup source.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 23:03current

    First published.

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