ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 62747
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| Date: | Monday 29 January 1968 |
| Time: | c. 0750 |
| Type: |  Hiller UH-12E |
| Owner/operator: | Whirl-Wide Aviation Ltd |
| Registration: | ZK-HCE |
| MSN: | 2198 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1962 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Ruatoria, East Coast -
 New Zealand
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Agricultural |
| Departure airport: | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
Pilot: Frank Robert Mettner (41).
R.I.P.
The helicopter was on its sixth spraying sortie of the day and flying along the Waiapu River to the spraying area when the main planet gear of the transmission disintegrated resulting in the separation of the main rotor assembly.
The aircraft went into free fall from an estimated height of about 100 feet and crashed heavily in the riverbed.
This was not a survivable impact.
The helicopter broke up and burst into flames.
Frank Mettner was an American who came to New Zealand in 1963.
He was a former helicopter pilot in the U.S.Army, graduating from Fort Sill, Oklahoma in April 1953 and assigned to the Army Medical Service Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant.
The accident investigator noted in his report " During his varied activities in this country he had always been prepared to sacrifice valuable time voluntarily to undertake important rescue work and he played a major part in some notable search and rescue operations. He was regarded as a particularly competent helicopter pilot and had accumulated some 9,000 hours' recorded flight time."
Aircraft Accident Report No. 1811.
Sources:
http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewEntity.do?code=7333
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 1 March 1977 | ZK-HCE | Whirl-Wide Helicopters Ltd | Waitati, Otago | |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-May-2009 12:58 | XLerate | Added |
| 26-Jan-2011 02:19 | Frank Mettner | Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Damage] |
| 28-Jun-2011 00:35 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Narrative] |
| 28-Jun-2011 01:15 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 24-Jan-2014 19:59 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Narrative] |
| 02-Feb-2018 20:43 | Anon. | Updated [Date, Narrative] |
| 07-Jul-2020 20:29 | Ron Averes | Updated [Operator, Location] |
| 11-Feb-2022 11:34 | Ron Averes | Updated [Location] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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