67-18433

 

 

              67-18433, Boeing build number B-403, was a CH-47B helicopter. The U.S. Army acceptance date was 25 August 1967. The administrative strike date was 21 December 1970. 67-18433 accumulated at least 1,761.0 aircraft hours. At some point, 67-18433 was assigned to C Company - "Crimson Tide", 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion, 1st Calvary Division, located at Camp Gorvad, Phouc Vinh, in the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), where it remained until it was lost due to an accident on 21 December 1970. The Army contracted Lear Siegler (LSI) and Dynalectron (later became DynCorp) to perform maintenance on aircraft in theater. The Progressive Maintenance Program (PMP) inspection 18 had just been completed and the assigned aircrew proceeded to test fly the aircraft. The maintenance test flight took place in the early morning darkness. After completing some hover checks, 67-18433 was flown over to the refueling pad. During the hover for take-off, one of the bolts attaching a pitch change link (specific link unknown) to a swashplate became dislodged. The retaining nut had not been installed. The resultant flight control failure caused the aircraft to instantly pitch over on its back and slam into the ground. The Aircraft Commander was CW2 Fred Wilken. His foot and collar bone were broken. The First Officer was CW2 Art Cordry. His foot and arm were injured. CW2 Wilken and CW2 Cordry managed to drag one of the maintenance personnel (believed to be the Lear Siegler employee), who was seriously hurt, out of the burning wreckage to safety. It is unknown whether an Army Flight Engineer or Crew Chief was assigned to the aircraft for the test flight. Other personnel on-board are believed to have been either LSI or Dynalectron employees: a maintenance supervisor whose intials were M. S. (name unknown), C. G. Raymond, A. J. Hocamp, J. E. Rodney. The aircraft was consumed in the post-crash fire. It was reported that CW2 Wilken later sued Lear Siegler and was awarded a judgement. The last known location of 67-18506 was in the Republic of Vietnam. Aircraft status: Crashed.

 

 

             The following unedited information was obtained from the U.S. Army Aviation Safety Center files:

 

             AIRCRAFT 67-18433 WAS SCHEDULED FOR A MAINTENANCE TEST FLIGHT TO COMPLETE 18TH PMP PERFORMED BY 34TH GP TEAM LSI. THE AIRCRAFT WAS PREFLIGHTED THE LATE AFTERNOON OF THE 20TH OF DEC PRIOR TO TRACKING THE BLADES. THE AIRCRAFT WAS THEN TOWED TO SLING OUT PAD FOR THE TRACK. ON THE FIRST TRACK, A TEMPERATURE BULB IN THE FORWARD TRANSMISSION WAS INOPERABLE. BEFORE THE AIRCRAFT WAS SHUTDOWN THE SAS WAS TURNED ON AND THERE WAS A SLIGHT LUNGE FORWARD, THEN THE SAS SETTLED DOWN. THE ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE AND THE AIRCRAFT WAS READY FOR THE SECOND TRACK. THE ELECTRICIAN HAD THE APU RUNNING TO CHECK OUT THE TEMPERATURE BULB AND THE PILOT NOTICED AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF HYDRAULIC FLUID IN THE LEFT REAR OF THE AIRCRAFT. UPON INSPECTION IT WAS FOUND THAT THE UTILITY HYDRAULIC PUMP WAS LEAKING. REPLACING THE PUMP AND REFILLING THE RESERVOIS THE AIRCRAFT WAS RUN UP FOR THE THIRD AND FINAL BLADE TRACK. BEFORE SHUTDOWN THE PILOTS CONDUCTED GROUND CHECKS OF THE SYSTEMS AND EVERYTHING CHECKED OUT NORMALLY. THE AIRCRAFT WAS THEN SHUT DOWN. AT APPROXIMATELY 0530 HOURS 21 DEC 70, THE AIRCRAFT WAS RUN UP AND HOVER CHECKED FOR APPROXIMATELY 20-30 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THE MOC PRIOR TO TEST FLIGHT #3. UPON COMPLETION OF THIS THE PILOTS NOTICED THAT THE FUEL LEVEL WAS DOWN TO ABOUT 1800 POUNDS. THE TOWER GAVE THEM CLEARANCE TO REPOSITION TO POL. THEY HOVERED TO POL AND THE AIRCRAFT CONTROLS WERE SMOOTH FUNCTIONING WITH NO PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED. ARRIVING AT POL, IT WAS FOUND THAT POL WAS SHUT OFF. THE TOWER WAS CALLED AND THE CREWMEMBERS WENT UP TO POL AND TURNED ON THE MAIN FUEL VALVE. AFTER BEING IN POL FOR APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES, MR CORDRY CALLED THE TOWER FOR A 27 DEPARTURE. CLEARED, MR WILKIN PICKED THE NOSE OFF THE GROUND, THE AIRCRAFT STILL HANDLING NORMALLY. WHEN THE AFT GEAR LEFT THE GROUND, WITH AIRCRAFT WTILL AT A LOW HOVER, THE AIRCRAFT DIPPED NOSE LOW AND STARTED TO GO FORWARD TOWARDS THE HIGH BANK APPROXIMATELY 25 FEET IN FRONT OF POL. MR WILKIN ADDED AFT CYCLIC TO COMPENSATE FOR THE NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. AT THIS TIME MR CORDRY NOTICED THAT IT SOUNDED LIKE THERE WAS A SUDDEN LOAD ON THE ENGINES AND ROTORS. WHEN MR WILKIN SAW THAT THEY WERE GOING TO HIT THE BANK, HE PULLED IN THRUST IN ORDER TO CLEAR THE CREST OF THE BANK. THE CONTROLS FELT ROUGH AND BEFORE THE SHIP HIT THE BANK, MR CORDRY TURNED THE SAS OFF. THEN THE AIRCRAFT HAD A FORWARD BLADE STRIKE ON THE BANK. VIBRATIONS IN THE AIRCRAFT INCREASED TREMEMDOUSLY. MR CORDEY REACHED FOR THE ENGINE CONDITION LEVERS AND TRIED TO PULL THEM TO STOP. HE SUCCEEDED IN GETTING #1 ENGINE TO STOP AND #2 ENGINE TO GROUND. AT THIS TIME THE AIRCRAFT PITCHED BACKWARD AND MR WILKIN LOWERED THE THRUST IN ORDER TO COMPENSATE FOR THIS. AS A RESULT OF THE BLADE STRIKE, DUST WAS STIRRED UP AND IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO SEET OUTSIDE THE AIRCRAFT VERY WELL. AS THE AIRCRAFT WAS PITCHING BACKWARD AND OVER THERE WAS A GLOW IN THE WINDSHIELD AS IT REFLECTED THE FIRE IN THE AFT SECTION OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE UNCONTROLLABLE AIRCRAFT THEN CONTINUED BACKWARD AND OVER AND IMPACTED UPON ITS BACK APPROXIMATELY 12 FEET TO THE WEST OF THE POL POINT. THE CREW THEN DEPARTED THE AIRCRAFT TO ESCAPE THE FIRE. MR RODNEY WAS STUNNED BUT ABLE TO GET OUT OF THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOTS THEN PULLED MR HOCAMP FORM THE AIRCRAFT. THE FIRE THEN CONSUMED THE AIRCRAFT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE PILOT'S CABIN SECTION. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS CALLED AND AFTER A WAIT OF 20-30 MINUTES THEY ARRIVED AND PUT OUT THE FIRE.

 

 

          This aircraft was piloted by:

 

          CW2 Fred Wilken, AC, 1970.

 

          CW2 Art Cordry, PI, 1970.

 

          Your Name Here.

 

 

          This aircraft was crewed by:

 

          Your Name Here.

 

 

          The CH-47 - 40 years old and still circling the world.

         

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