Information on U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D tail number 65-09605
The Army purchased this helicopter 0166
Total flight hours at this point: 00000334
Date: 12/17/1966
Incident number: H578ACD Accident case number: H578
Unit: 174 AHC
South Vietnam
Number killed in accident = 3 . . Injured = 0 . . Passengers = 0
costing 255147
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:
SP LEE MS KIA
IP CPT BRAM AARON L KIA
CE SP5 SEASTROM WILLIAM LEONAR KIA
Accident Summary:
Aircraft was being used to train Korean pilot. At about 800 feet, the white rotor blade struck the left front of the cockpit. The mainrotor mast failed. The aircraft rolled inverted to strike the ground and burned on impact. The Instructor Pilot, the Student Pilot, and the Crew Chief were all fatalities.
War Story:
At that time, the 174th AHC was located at Lane Army Airfield and our security was provided by the White Horse Division of the Republic of Korea. Somewhere in late November or early December I participated in my first Combat Assualt in the Phu Cat Mountains. Later that day we did resupply of the ROK troops and while doing so, were informed that one of our aircraft had crashed with the loss of two pilots. I later found out that one of our IPs was training a ROK helicopter in the UH-1. They were doing practice autos when the main rotor departed the aircraft at about 1,000 AGL. The blade dampners had been over torqued causing the bolts to fail and then the dampner damaged the pitch change tube causing one of the blades to enter the cockpit at about eye level. Then things got really bad and the entire rotor system departed the aircraft. I recall that since they were doing touchdown autos, the IP had instructed the crew chief to remain on the ground so the two pilots were the only people on board. Submitted to the VHPA Jan 2002 by Tom Morris.
Editor's note: Turns out the crew chief was onboard and was killed in the crash.
This record was last updated on 10/11/2009
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Date posted on this site: 11/13/2023
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