LAX95LA305 · Sikorsky CH-54A
Sikorsky CH-54A · Accident: loss of engine power while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX95LA305
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Sikorsky CH-54A
- Aircraft type
- Sikorsky CH-54
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N64AR
- Operator
- Rick Leishman
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 133: Rotorcraft Ext. Load
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of engine power
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Flightcrew › Crew/group coordination, inadequate
- Flightcrew › Load jettison, not attained
- Miscellaneous, engine compressor stall/surge
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While flying upslope with an external load of logs at almost zero airspeed, the pilot (PIC) heard an 'explosion' and noted that the helicopter pitched nose-up and rolled right. He turned to initiate a downslope forced landing, while experiencing control feedback and stiffness. As the crew began an approach, the copilot attempted to jettison the load with the electrical release; however, neither crew member verified the results of the procedure. As the aircraft continued to descend on the approach, the cargo hook struck the ground, opened, and released the logs. At the termination of the approach, the helicopter's main rotor blade struck several trees. After the helicopter touched down, it rolled onto its left side in a shallow stream. The No. 2 engine exhibited evidence indicating that it was producing power at impact; however, the No. 1 engine exhibited evidence indicating that it was not rotating. During subsequent inspections, no preimpact anomaly was found with either of the engines or of associated systems.
Probable cause
a compressor stall in the right engine for an unknown reason, which resulted in a loss of power in that engine; and inadequate crew coordination between the pilot and copilot, which resulted in their failure to ensure that the external load was promptly jettisoned or released.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX95LA305
- Event ID
- 20001207X04299
- Case number
- LAX95LA305
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6db3235aacc392cda67c33b28ee526933848ddb5573ba6fcd82211de9737080a; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:21:33.353Z.