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Madbob
31st May 2013, 09:31
The Gods were obviously smiling on this crew





NTSB Identification: WPR13LA243
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, May 25, 2013 in Wenatchee, WA
Aircraft: HILLER UH-12E, registration: N99090
Injuries: 1 Minor,1 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On May 25, 2013, about 1745 Pacific daylight time, a Hiller UH-12E, N99090, landed hard after the main rotor head assembly separated from the helicopter at Pangborn Memorial Airport (EAT), Wenatchee, Washington. The commercial pilot was not injured, and the passenger sustained minor injuries. The helicopter sustained substantial damage throughout. The helicopter was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91; no flight plan was filed for the personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight that originated from the EAT, about 1730 hours.

The pilot reported that after takeoff, about three miles away from the airport, he heard a loud noise above and behind him. He elected to return to the airport, during which, he heard the noise a second time. Upon arriving in the vicinity of the airport, the helicopter descended to a hover about four feet above the ground. Suddenly, the helicopter fell to the ground and the pilot observed the main rotor head and rotor blades spinning about 400-500 feet in the air above him. The blades descended to the ground and came to rest about 300 feet from the helicopter. :eek::eek::eek::eek:

The airplane has been removed from the scene for further examination.

MB

albatross
31st May 2013, 09:51
Time for him to buy a loto ticket!

Sydy
31st May 2013, 10:14
Lucky boy... Lucky boy!

Arnie Madsen
3rd Jun 2013, 02:23
The Jesus Nut came off ???

rotorrookie
3rd Jun 2013, 03:12
that's why it's called "jesus" :ok:

MartinCh
3rd Jun 2013, 08:29
Careful there, some religious people may get offended if mentioned the word Jesus and nuts in same sentence/phrase. :p

Not many survive such (still) in-flight catastrophic disintegration. Beats the Hiller 12 story mentioned here on pprune about guys who lost bolts, nuts or some vital part of collective pitch control in the lower part of rotor system and 'adjusted manually' climbing out. One was success, another mentioned had sad outcome.

Tony Mabelis
3rd Jun 2013, 08:33
Fine piece of kit is a Hiller 12E!!
Tony