MD 500 / Hughes 369 series — U.S. Fleet History Data
Helicopter · 654 aircraft on the U.S. registry · built 1966–2025
NTSB records whose airframe serial does not match the aircraft currently holding the registration are excluded, as are service difficulty reports filed while a registration belonged to a different aircraft. U.S. registrations get reused; these counts are reconciled to the airframes actually in this fleet.
Where this fleet reports maintenance difficulties
FAA Service Difficulty Reports filed against MD 500 / Hughes 369 series airframes, grouped by JASC system chapter — a factual picture of what mechanics actually report on this type.
- 73 — Engine Fuel & Control : 32 reports
- 72 — Engine : 31 reports
- 78 — Exhaust : 28 reports
- 62 — Main Rotor : 26 reports
- 77 — Engine Indicating : 25 reports
Recent airworthiness directives matched to this type
- AD 94-18-08 (recurring) · effective 1994-09-27 — This amendment supersedes an existing airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company and Hughes Helicopters, Inc. Model 369, 369A (OH-6A), 369D, E, F, FF, H, HE, HS, and HM series helicopters, that requires daily preflight checks and 100 hours time-in-service (TIS) inspections for tail rotor blade abrasion strip (abrasion strip) debonding until abrasion strip rivets (rivets) are installed. This amendment also supersedes a Priority Letter AD that currently requires installation of rivets, corrects tail rotor blade part numbers listed in the previous AD, and ret
ADs published since 1994 in our Federal Register database — the full list of directives applicable to an older airframe is longer; build it at drs.faa.gov. Open/superseded status reflects our last sync. Compliance for a specific airframe can only be verified in its logbooks — that's exactly what our per-aircraft report flags.
Buying one? Read the MD 500 / Hughes 369 series buyer's guide — what the records reveal →