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LAX86LA113 · Hiller UH-12E

7 Feb 1986 · Lodi, CA, United States

Alpine Helicopter Service Hiller UH-12E · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) while maneuvering

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Event

NTSB case
LAX86LA113
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 UH-12E

Aircraft type
Hiller UH-12
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
N62421
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 137: Agricultural
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 · aerial application
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 › Fuel consumption calculations, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, poor
  • Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

WHILE ON AN AERIAL AGRICULTURAL SPRAYING FLIGHT THE ACFT ENGINE LOST TOTAL POWER. THE PLT EXECUTED AN IMMEDIATE AUTOROTATION LANDING. UPON GROUND CONTACT, THE ACFT SKID FOR ABOUT 8 FT UNTIL THE FRONT SKID CONTACTED THE GROUND FURROW AND NOSED OVER CAUSING THE MAIN ROTOR BLADE TO CONTACT THE GROUND AND TAIL BOOM ASSEMBLY. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE HAD ABOUT 10 - 12 GALLONS ABOARD FOR THE 5 MINUTE FLIGHT AND THAT HE BELIEVED THE FUEL PUMP BYPASS VALVE MALFUNCTIONED CAUSING THE FUEL TO BE 'DUMPED OVERBOARD' VIA THE SYSTEM DRAIN VALVE. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE ACFT CONTAINED LESS THAN 1/2 PT OF FUEL. THE ENGINE WAS FUNCTIONALLY TESTED AND IT OPERATED NORMALLY.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX86LA113
Event ID
20001213X32883
Case number
LAX86LA113
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: 1c06183a3cdcde55314ec858417011a0b3988e82aaee2a7c44e0729f7d4b682d; retrieved 2026-09-23T15:03:39.432Z.