Crew Members:
AC W1 CLARK GL
P W1 SMITH RC
CE SP4 RODGERS MARTIN LEROY KIA
G E4 WASSON SK

Passengers:
FCO, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; , PAX, G; X2 UNK, PAX, A; X2 , PAX, A;

Accident Summary:

On 26 JULY 1970, After a delay due to completetion of tail rotor tracking, aircraft 68-16399 took off to the area of operations. After dropping four passengers off at the the Chi Lang B-41 Pad, the aircraft proceeded to join up with the other members of the lifht section. After marrying up with the rest of the flight, they proceeded to insert troop into an island at coordinates WT 210050. After the insertion they shut down whithout noticing any deviation from normal instrument readings. During shut down, Warrant Officer Ronald C. Smith noticed that the engine oil level was low, but not sufficient enough to warrent the addition of some oil.
Notified of the extraction of the previously enserted troops, Warrant Officer Clark and Warrant Officer Smith cranked the aircraft. Smith cranked the aircraft and assumed the the position of Chalk two in the three ship flight. After the first two lifts were extracted Warrant Officer Clark and Warrant Officer Smith encountered no problems in handling the aircraft, but both expressed concerns over the high EGT (exhaust gas temperature)reading with ten ARVN soldiers on board. The ship had been indicating 630 to 640 degrees C with 38 pounds of torque and 98 percent N1. It was during the third and last lift from the island that the accident occured. Warrant Officer Clark was at the controls and was heading into the wind, indicatins an airspeed of 80 knots with approximately 50 feet of altitude of altitude over the river with 10 ARVN soldiers. The aircraft flying Chalk 3 position noticed balls of flame shooting out of the rear of aircraft 16-399 and called "Flame out, Flame out". Immediately after hearing this the pilot and co-pilot of 399 both noticed the bleeding off of rotor RPM and entered autorotation instantly. Warrant Officer Smith placed both shoulder harnesses in the "lock" position and put Warrant Officer Clark's radio selector to UHF. Notifying his crew of the problem, WO1 Clark attempted to extend his glide in order to reach a Navy boat in the river. Tthe aircraft entered the water in a level attitude with no forward airspeed. By extending his glid, the pilot was able to get closer to the Navy ship but was not able to reach it. Touchdown was accomplished inthe normal manner after WO1 Clark saw saw he was not going to make it that far. After hitting the water the aircraft instantly rolled to the right, sinking below the surface. Warrant Officer Smith, who who had jettisoned his door a surface level swam away safely, along with door gunner SP4 Watson. WArrant Officer Clark tried to get out of his door but it was jammed so he extracted himself from the shipby means of the cargo door after crawling into the rear of the helicopter. Warrant Officer Clark surfaced and noticed SP4 Rodgers sitting on the skid of the sinking aircraft. After being assured that he was alright by verbal confirmation, Warrant Officer Clark struggled to stay afloat himself. The Navy boat which was in close proximity to the aircraft arrived and extracted the people. It was not until all were aboard the boat that AP4 Rodgers and two ARVN soldiers were noticed as missing.

This record was last updated on 09/20/98
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The following is crew member information for this incident:
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Name: SP4 Martin Leroy Rodgers
Status: Killed In Action from an incident on 07/26/70 while performing the duty of Crew Chief.
Age at death: 18.8
Date of Birth: 10/02/51
Home City: Mc Kinney, TX
Service: regular component of the U.S. Army.
Unit: D/3/5 CAV
Major organization: 1st Aviation Brigade
Service: U.S. Army.
The Wall location: 08W-056
Short Summary: Drowned in river after engine failure. Two ARVNs also drowned. Remainder survived.
Aircraft: UH-1H tail number 68-16399
SSN: 464742170
Country: South Vietnam
MOS: 67N20 = UH-1 Helicopter Repairer
Major attributing cause: aircraft connected not at sea
Compliment cause: vehicular accident
Vehicle involved: helicopter
Position in vehicle: crew chief
Vehicle ownership: government
Started Tour: 04/03/70
"Official" listing: helicopter air casualty - other aircrew
The initial status of this person was: no previous report
Length of service: *
Location: Kien Tuong Province IV Corps.
Reason: aircraft lost or crashed
Casualty type: Non-hostile - died while missing
single male U.S. citizen
Race: Caucasian
Relgion: Baptist - other groups
The following information is secondary, but may help in explaining this incident.
Category of casualty as defined by the Army: non-battle dead Category of personnel: active duty Army Military class: enlisted personnel
This record was last updated on 07/30/95
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The following is Goldbook information on US Army helicopter UH-1H tail number 68-16399
It is provided here as an ESTIMATE of the history of this helicopter and is not intended to be the final authority.
This helicopter was purchased by the US Army in 1069.
Please provide any additional information on this helicopter to the VHPA.

DATE  FLT HRS    UIC      UNIT          AREA          POST          COUNTRY
6910   0    0 W0Y6AA OS TO CONUS      ITR CONUS                   AVCOMITR
6911  21   21 WDF2D0 DTRP 5CAV 9INF   VIETNAM                     RVN
6912 147  168 WDF2D0 DTRP 5CAV 9INF   VIETNAM                     RVN
7001 134  302 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7002 103  405 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7003 100  505 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7004 103  608 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7005 133  741 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7006 167  908 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
7007  66  974 WDF2D0 D 315 CAV 164AV  VIETNAM                     RVN
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Please send additions or corrections to:

VHPA Head Quarters or Gary Roush or Mike Law
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Printed from databases on: 08/27/00

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