- Date
- August 10, 1992, 06:30 local (13:30 UTC)
- Place
- Merced, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N51858Texas Helicopter OH-13H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report March 9, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920810031129A
- Case key
- 27728
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's poor preflight planning/preparation and fuel consumption calculations. Contributing to this accident was fuel exhaustion and the cultivated soft field.
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 pilot had completed an aerial application flight and was returning to the loading area when the helicopter sustained a total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. The pilot immediately executed an autorotation into an open harvested wheat field. The landing skids dug into the soft field causing the helicopter to roll over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N51858
- Reported as
- Texas Helicopter OH-13H
- Category
- Helicopter
- Serial number
- 79-025
- Airframe hours
- 3,148
- Engine
- Lycoming VO-435-AF, 240 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial application · Part 137
- Operator
- Gach, Bernard
- Registered owner
- Gach, Bernard
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Restricted (Special)
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · July 26, 1992 · 28 hours before
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
- 53
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 9,650 total · 2,500 in this make and model · 168 in the last 90 days · 79 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.