MIA92LA135 · Hiller UH12C
Hiller UH12C · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From La Belle Municipal Airport (X14) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA92LA135
- 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
Hiller UH12C
- Aircraft type
- Hiller UH12
- 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
- N46937
- Operator
- Arthur H. Jocher · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From La Belle Municipal Airport (X14), LaBelle, FLTo 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 91: General Aviation
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Fuel exhaustion
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
- Pilot in command › Autorotation, improper
- Pilot in command › Fuel consumption calculations, improper
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Punta Gorda, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS REFUELED TO CAPACITY AND DEPARTED AT 1045 LOCAL TIME. AT 1250 LOCAL TIME THE FLIGHT EXPEREINCED COMPLETE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER AND WHILE MAKING AN AUTOROTATIVE LANDING THE HELICOPTER TOUCHED DOWN HARD. POSTCRASH EXAMINATION OF THE HELICOPTER BY FAA INSPECTORS REVEALED THE HELICOPTER CONTAINED ABOUT 2 QUARTS OF FUEL. NO EVIDENCE OF PRECRASH OR POSTCRASH FUEL LEAKAGE WAS NOTED. THE AIRCRAFT HAS A 26.5 USABLE FUEL CAPACITY AND CONSUMES ABOUT 13 GALLONS PER HOUR. THE AIRCRAFT HAD BEEN FLYING 2 HOURS 5 MINUTES AT THE TIME OF ENGINE FAILURE.
Probable cause
THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S FAILURE TO MONITOR FUEL CONSUMPTION AND FLIGHT TIME RESULTING IN EXHAUSTION OF FUEL AND ENGINE FAILURE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S IMPROPER AUTOROTATION FOLLOWING ENGINE FAILURE WHICH RESULTED IN A HARD LANDING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA92LA135
- Event ID
- 20001211X14934
- Case number
- MIA92LA135
- 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: 2de5bd1d17f154b51b0f078994912af8fe8e1689bd5bd46d44016787bc41d7ec; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:15:43.888Z.