- Date
- April 12, 1985, 05:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Klamath, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N545HAHiller UH12J3
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850412070949A
- Case key
- 24488
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The helicopter was returning to a private landing pad after a reconaisance flight prior to sprating. At about 10FT AGL after flaring and leveling the pilot could not control a drift and roll to the left. The rotor blades struck the ground within about one second. The investigation revealed that a self locking nut was missing and a bolt had backed out of the upper firewall bellcrank assembly resutlting in the lossof cyclic control.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N545HA
- Reported as
- Hiller UH12J3
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 5054
- Airframe hours
- 2,339
- Engine
- Allison 250-C20, 400 horsepower, turbo shaft
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Western Helicopter Services,, doing business as Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · April 9, 1985 · 2 hours before
- Airport
- Private
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,500 total · 89 in the last 90 days · 29 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N545HA · 3
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.