Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 65-12893
The Army purchased this helicopter 0966
Total flight hours at this point: 00002065
Date: 10/05/1968
Incident number: 681005181ACD Accident case number: 681005181 Total loss or fatality Accident
Unit: 191 AHC
The station for this helicopter was Bear Cat in South Vietnam
UTM grid coordinates: WS966607 (To see this location on a map, go to https://legallandconverter.com/p50.html and search on Grid Reference 48PWS966607)
Number killed in accident = 1 . . Injured = 1 . . Passengers = 0
costing 329154
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 W1 BR UNGLES
P WO1 ROSS MORRIS JEROME KIA
CE HARTMAN
G E4 JM LONG
Accident Summary:
The 191st AHC was performing combat assaults in the general area where the crash occurred. After being assigned another mission and a new pick up zone, the flight picked up its troops and proceeded toward the new landing zone. Enroute to the landing zone, aircraft 65-12893 received instructions to break formation after he dropped his troops off to pick up three medevacs who were in a location 1000 meters southeast of the landing zone. Aircraft 65-12893 dropped his troops off and began to hover toward the medevacs. He did not see the personnel until he was approximately 100 meters away. He began to slow down. When he reached the area where the troops were located, he executed an extreme nose high flare, touching the tail rotor in the rice paddy. The impact of the tail rotor striking the rice paddy caused a loss of directional control. The aircraft turned 180 degrees almost hitting the medevacs before coming to rest. During the turn, the rotor blades also came in contact with the rice paddy. Due to the impact of the crash and the rotor blades striking the paddy, the transmission, mast and entire rotor system was thrown forward causing portions of the rotor system to go through the forward cabin section on the pilots side. It was this action that caused injury to the pilot which later on resulted in his death.
This record was last updated on 04/14/1999
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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