Information on U.S. Army helicopter CH-54A tail number 67-18414
The Army purchased this helicopter 0667
Total flight hours at this point: 00000386
Date: 09/27/1968
Incident number: 680927181ACD Accident case number: 680927181 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: 478 HHC
The station for this helicopter was Red Beach in
Number killed in accident = 3 . . Injured = 30 . . Passengers = 29
costing 400180
Source(s) from which the incident was created or updated: Army Aviation Safety Center database.
Crew Members:
AC O4 DR LECLERC
P O2 JR WALKER
CE E5 RA SCHU
PX PFC SMITH LARRY JAMES KIA
PP CW2 MORRIS JAMES ALBERT JR KIA
Passengers and/or other participants:
O2 R BELLANTONI, PAX, D
O2 JE FELTER, PAX, D
E3 JD YATES, PAX, D
UNK GE WILLIAMS, PAX, D
E6 TA BINGHAM, PAX, D
SP5 KING LEROY ALAN, AR, PX, KIA
E5 DA THOMAS, PAX, D
UNK GD CLIFTON, PAX, D
E4 S KOVALIK, PAX, D
E5 CP WATSON, PAX, D
E5 AS GREEN, PAX, D
E3 D LINDEMANN, PAX, D
E5 AJ REED, PAX, D
E5 CE ALLEN, PAX, D
E4 JC DINE, PAX, D
E3 WJ STEPHENS, PAX, D
E6 PL DAVIS, PAX, D
E6 JM COOPER, PAX, D
E5 KN WHITE, PAX, D
E3 DE DAVEY, PAX, D
E4 RB HOSMER, PAX, D
E5 RL ROBERTS, PAX, D
E5 JW WILLIS, PAX, D
E5 RL CHILDS, TO, D
E3 WH SPRAGUE, PAX, D
UNK LE JONES, PAX, D
E5 GA HUST, PAX, D
Accident Summary:
This aircraft had departed Da Nang, RVN, its home station, early that day. Its mission was to pick up a vehicle and baggage at An Khe and to return to Da Nang. As they prepared to depart An Khe, 28 passengers, a loaded 3/4 ton vehicle, and a large amount of baggage and miscellaneous cargo were loaded into the pod. After preflight the crew members took their seats in the flight compartment and the engines were started. A takeoff was attempted from the taxiway at the golf course runway, but the aircraft did not respond properly and exhibited a bad vertical oscillation, although the crew states they were able to hover with 70-75% torque. The decision was made to execute a running take-off. After taxiing to the south end of runway 34, they made a 180 degree turn and began a running takeoff to the north. By the time they reached the end of the runway, at an altitude of perhaps forty feet, the aircraft had a pronounced vertical oscillation, and would not continue to climb or accelerate. The pilot recognized that he was not going to be able to continue to fly and began to flare slightly. The left center portion of the pod struck a sandbagged firing position approximately 100 meters from the end of the runway. The aircraft rapidly disintegrated and stopped within 50 meters of this point. The takeoff heading had been 340 degrees, the fuselage came to rest on a heading of 360 degrees.
This record was last updated on 09/20/1998
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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