UH-1F Huey crash in Wellington NZ

[The angry palm tree]

Does anyone know any more about the civillian Huey crash in Wellington this week? I wonder if it was down to Wellington being the windiest (is that a real word?) city in the southern hemisphere. It also looked survivable on the news footage but sadly this was not the case.



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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

[Larry]

We know the Helicopter wasnt a civilian
Model 204B but a Ex-USAF UH-1F Huey.
It runs a T-58 engine instead of the
normal T-53. There can`t be more than 5-7 flying and all of these are in the USA.
When i found out Helipro was flying a F model it surprised me. HELIPRO was also flying a Ex-US Military HH-3 but i do not know if it was a HH-3E (USAF) or a HH-3F
(US Coast Guard)version. Anyway the HH-3 was crashed last year while logging in NZ.
Can anyone tell me how many F models Helipro had/has ?

[skidbiter]

For more info on Helipro, check out: www.helipro.co.nz (http://www.helipro.co.nz)

[The angry palm tree]

Thanks for the info Larry

I find at this point on my learning curve I really seem to have a need to know more about any accidents that happen, especially how it was caused and could it have been avoided in any way.



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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

[Lu Zuckerman]

For what it's worth, a gentleman from OZ placed a post on Just helicopters asking about purchasing a surplus OH-58 for use in Australia. Several posts were made in response telling him that surplus US Military aircraft could not be shipped outside of the US. If that is true, how do you explain the fact that they have surplus US Military aircraft in the Helipro fleet?

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The Cat

[Cyclic Hotline]

I didn't read the original post, but I think the respondents may have misunderstood the rule.

Restricted Category certification, which is the issue here; is limited to aircraft that are former US military operated aircraft only. Thus aircraft that were operated by a foreign military organisation are not eligible for US FAA Restricted Category certification.

Aircraft that are certified under an FAA Restricted Category Type Certificate, may be operated anywhere, so long as the national Airworthiness Authority accepts that certification and allows this type of operation.

The only limitation regarding the shipment of former US military aircraft to destinations overseas, is completion of documentation for US Customs, that the aircraft has been demilitarised.

Hope that explains it.

Condolences to all at Helipro.

[Larry]

I know there were some private OH-58Cs in New Zealand as of 1997. They were still painted with US Army markings at that time.
There were also a few ex-British Army AH.1 Scouts in New Zealand doing ag work as of 1997.

[Pac Rotors]

In response to the other posts the latest theory on the Helipro Huey crash in Wellington is that it could have been hydraulic failure, but at this stage not much is being said. It was windy on the day but Andy Shaw had some sort of problem as he had buttoned off the load first.

He suffered massive head and chest injuries because he was flying from the left hand seat of the Huey, much easier since you dont have to stretch to reach the collective.

With regards to the Ex mil birds Hugh Jones from Airwork NZ has an OH-58 that is his private machine. Its still in Army markings and is based in Auckland. Just saw it take off yesterday and head out somewhere. He had also bought into NZ a couple of the Westland Scouts, one of which ended up on ag work but I think that crashed.

[Larry]

To: PacRotors
Thanks for the info , since your down there please keep us posted on the Helipro crash...im very interested in what happened.
Is there anyway you can find out where the (two?)Helipro F models came from ?
I ask because the F is rare even in the USA and airworthy examples are few and far between.
In 1993 LA City Fire Dept. disposed of the 2 F models they flew from 1979-1990.
LAFD rebuilt two Ex-USAF F models for about $50,000 each in 1978 after retirement from the Air Force.They were flown as firefighters with 350 gallon water tanks.
Also the California Dept.of Forestry flew
10 UH-1Fs from 1981-1994 for firefighting
and support flights. After retirement
the Airframes were returned to "boneyard"
in Arizona. In 1996 i found a Airworthy
privatly owned F model at Orange county Airport Calif. It was painted in a sharp multi colored corporate paint schem and had gold door handles ,leather covered seats and a bar and TV set inside !!
It was really the silliest helicopter ive ever seem and i have no clue who owned it,
but whoever did had terrible taste.

Im curious to know if the Helipro ships might of been the old LA City Fire dept.
Airframes.

Also...do you know the cuase of the HH-3 crash last year ? And does Helipro have any other HH-3s ?

Thanks

[Pac Rotors]

They had Andy Shaw's funeral in Wairoa on Friday and it went off well, even had some of the guys do a fly by for him. Well deserved to say the least. If there was ever a gentlemen of the Kiwi industry Andy Shaw was it.

With regards to the HH-3 crash earlier last year the machine started some massive uncomma nded bounces and Gary Mahoney who was flying was very lucky to get it down where he did. They were heli logging just East of Nelson in the South Island. I had flown in it from the West Coast to Paraparaumu about a week prior.

Have a pic of it sitting in the river bed after the event if you want to see it.

[Cyclic Hotline]

The HH-3F (S61R) accident was attributed to settling with power, the topic of another current thread.

Helipro had been negotiating on another S61R prior to the accident, but never completed the deal. This was there only ship.

[Te_Kahu]

Larry

In the Nov, 95 review of the New Zealand Civil Aircraft Register published in the NZ Wings magazine were some details about this Huey. It had the designation Bell(CDF)UH-1F It was one of 120 built for the civvy market as a 204 model, but drafted into USAF service on 05 Oct, 1966, as 65-7954. While still owned by the USAF it took on civil indentity N488DF in Feb 1982 and was leased to the California Dept of Forestry, Sacramento, in a restricted category capacity for forest conservation. In 1992 it was put into storage before being recertified in 1994 by the FAA. It became N2191J on 30 June, 95 when ownership passed to Tenn GA leasing Inc, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Then it came down under.

A note to PacRotors. The day of the crash the wind did build later, but in the morning it was very light. I saw the machine lift off to go to the job and the wind was only 3-4 knots and had hardly risen at all before the crash happened.

[Te_Kahu]

Further info for Larry

Helipro only had one UH-1F.
The S-61R they had which crashed last year was built in '65 as a CH-3C-serial 65-12783. It was later upgraded to an HH-3E. Interestingly, it seems it was one of the two helicopters to first fly non-stop acros the Atlantic. It's last military posting was with 41st Search and Recover Sqd at Cape Canaveral on the Shuttle programme. It went onto the civil registar in '95 with the registration N650DC.

[Larry]

To: Te_Kahu

Thanks for the info on the UH-1Fs and the CH/HH-3E.I always find it interesting where helicopters end up in the world.
I do remember that 2 HH-3s flew across the Atlantic in (i think) 1967 and ended up at the Paris Airshow to show off what the USAF SAR services could do.Im not sure how long the flight took or how many in-flight refuelings(the HH-3s were supported/escorted by HC-130Ns )were required but it must of been a tense and interesting trip !
I thought HELIPRO only had one UH-1F but when i went to their website they have a group photo of their fleet and it showed two
Hueys and they both looked like F models.
FYI....None of the UH-1F were ever built
as civil 204s ( civil built 204s were unique in their own right) as the Fs were specific to US Air Force specifications. The USAF wanted a huey that used the same T-58 engine as the HH-3C/E so they could share from the same engine inventory. As you state the USAF bought 120 UH-1Fs and and TH-1F Hueys.
Im not sure the mix of TH-1Fs and UH-1Fs
in the USAF inventory.
I was surprised to find the USAF flew F models up to 1987 and maybe even a little later than that.
Anyway thanks for your efforts helping me with my questions.
Where were you able to find the info ?

Thanks
Larry

[Te_Kahu]

Pacific Wings Magazine, which was formerly NZ Wings, has a civvy aircraft registar review in each edition. Being a small country there are not too many new arrivals or changes of ownership each month. This review includes information on particularly interesting aircraft and often the mag has access to the aircrafts history. The two aircraft we've been talking about were also the subject of feature articles in Pacific Wings.

Re the S-61 I think the article said the non-stop flight took 30 hours with nine refuels.

Helipro's other Huey I think may have also been an F - it was lost over a year ago in a logging accident. If my memory serves me right the accident report made reference to one of the ground crew reporting that 'the tail-rotor appeared to slow' before the machine lost control. I think the accident was put down to a failed tail-rotor drive-shaft bearing.