Hughes Helicopters INC 369E accident near Miami, Florida, December 27, 2023

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The pilot and passenger were returning to their home airport after dropping off a family member at another airport. The passenger stated that the helicopter yawed to the right and began to spin out of control immediately before the accident. The helicopter descended and impacted into a canal, where it was located in about 20 ft of water. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed evidence of main rotor contact with the tail boom, resulting the separation of a portion of the tail boom in flight. Separation of the tail boom, and the resultant loss of tail rotor thrust, would lead to a sudden right yaw, consistent with the passenger’s description. There was no evidence of a malfunction of the main rotor system, flight control system, or a loss of engine power that could have resulted in the main rotor’s contact with the tail boom. Because the helicopter was not equipped with, nor was required to be equipped with, a flight data recorder or a cockpit image recorder, the pilot’s flight control inputs leading up to the main rotor’s contact with the tail boom is unknown.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.