Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 66-16098
Date: 07/02/1968
Incident number: 680702201ACD Accident case number: 680702201 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: 121 AHC
The station for this helicopter was Soc Trang in South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 2 . . Injured = 3 . . Passengers = 6
costing 313354
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:
AC O2 PD URQUHART
P W1 MH MCNELLIS
CE CLEM
G SP4 CATLING WILLIE B KIA
Passengers and/or other participants:
MAJ RATLIFF CLARENCE CECIL, NOT, A
UNK UNK, PAX, D
UNK, PAX, G
O4 WJ DRISCOLL, PAX, D
O2 JE BALL, PAX, D
ANSCHWERTZ, PAX, G
Accident Summary:
The aircraft and crew were flying on a IV Corps administration mission. The aircraft was proceeding to Long Khot. The flight was made along a road that connects the two outposts. The aircraft commander, 1LT Urquhart, who was at the controls of the aircraft at this time, flew to Long Khot at an altitude of fifty to one hundred feet and at an indicated air-speed of eighty knots. LT Urquhart had flown into Long Khot twice previously that day with a right crosswind approximately from 150 degrees at 10-15 knots and he chose to land in the same manner as previously, with a landing heading of approximately 060 degrees. Approximately 1/4 mile from the outpost, LT Urquhart started his approach by climbing to 200 feet and slowing to 60 knots indicated. He then called for smoke prior to arrival but none was visible during the approach until the aircraft was over the helipad. The aircraft continued over the helipad at 10-20 knots and 10 feet of altitude, past the intended point of touchdown to a fence line which would be his actual point of touchdown. The fence was two 4 foot double barbed wire fences on the east side of the helipad. At this time the aircraft was in a slight deceleration attitude possibly still moving forward 5-10 knots. At a point just prior to the first fence, a go-around was initiated by the aircraft commander in order to clear the fence. With the application of power to clear the fence line, a corresponding decrease in RPM was noticed as LT Urquhart attempted to simultaneously clear the first fence and second fence, as well as regain his RPM. The RPM at this time was down to 6000. LT Urquhart relized the field past the second fence was mined and he was unable to set the aircraft down in order to regain RPM. The ship traveled diagonally across the minefield with no significant gain of RPM or airspeed. As the ship approached the northern fence of the mine-field, additional collective pitch was applied to clear the fence. At an estimated speed of 5-10 knots the aircraft now ran out of left pedal control and yawed to the right. All remaining collective was pulled to cushion the aircraft and the ship struck left fore skid low on a heading of 100 degrees. The tail section contacted the top of the fence as the left skid dug into the ground. A mound about 1 foot high was built up and the skid snapped off entirely. The aircraft rolled to the left and the retreating blade struck the ground at a point somewhere between the 7 and 9 o'clock position of the aircraft. The aircraft pitched over and came to rest on its left side.
This record was last updated on 09/20/1998
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