Non-Fatal Hard Helicopter Landing in California

A commercial helicopter pilot flying for S and S Helicopters was in a Hiller UH-12E helicopter on February 2, 2010 when it landed hard near Los Banos, California.

The pilot had completed an aerial application of a wheat field and was returning to the landing area when the helicopter’s engine did not respond. The commercial pilot twisted the throttle, however the speed of the helicopter would not change. The pilot aborted the landing and steered the helicopter to a larger open field where he attempted to diagnose the problem by continuing to twist the throttle with no response from the helicopter.

The commercial helicopter pilot decided to perform a run-on landing. During this landing the helicopter’s speed began to decrease and the helicopter landed hard in the field.

Post-landing of the helicopter showed the tailboom separated from the aft bulkhead and the lower fuselage sustained damage.

After investigation into the crash, it was determined the throttle control lever was separated from the cam lever rod bearing, and thereby causing it to fail.