Information on U.S. Army helicopter CH-54A tail number 64-14204
Date: 01/05/1966
Incident number: 0D567ACD Accident case number: 0D567 Total Loss Accident
Unit: 478 AVN
South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 5 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 2
costing 2100000
Original source(s) and document(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Defense Intelligence Agency Helicopter Loss database. Army Aviation Safety Center database. Also: OPERA (Operations Report. )
Loss to Inventory
Crew Members:
P CW3 GAJAN ALTON LOUIS KIA
P CW2 LANE ROBERT CARL KIA
CE SP5 HETZER JOSEPH EDWARD JR KIA
C SP4 BRYAN LIONEL JOHN JR KIA
C SP5 ENGLISH CARVER JOSEPH JR KIA
War Story:
After completing an ammo resupply for an artillery unit, the aircraft was returning to An Khe. Since this was one of the first times they had flown with sling gear that included a net with a canvas bottom, the crew tried an experiment. They let out all 100 feet of cable while the sling equipment dangling from the hook. Either the cable or the sling gear tangled in the tail rotor and whipped into the main rotor blades. One main blade came off and went through the cabin. The aircraft disintegrated, crashed and everyone on board died. This was the first CH-54A loss and fatalities in Vietnam. Since the 478th Avn Co only had four aircraft, this loss significantly impacted their operations.
This information was supplied by VHPA member Bob Marsh.
This record was last updated on 05/25/1998
This information is available on CD-ROM.
Additional information is available on KIAs at http://www.coffeltdatabase.org
Please send additions or corrections to: The VHPA Webmaster Gary Roush.
KIA statistics
Return to the KIA panel date index
Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
Copyright © 1998 - 2023 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association