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Atlas / NTSB / CHI91LA205

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CHI91LA205

1991-07-02 SAVOY, Illinois, United States Airport · CMI None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N94515

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

HILLER UH-12D

TCDS

4H10 · SIAM HILLER HOLDINGS INC

Engine

LYCOMING VO-435 SERIES (260 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19780411

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AD2254

Registrant of record

HILLER AIRCRAFT CORP

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN TAIL ROTOR CLEARANCE FROM THE GROUND. A RELATED FACTOR IS THE PILOT'S LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE IN HELICOPTERS.

Factual narrative

THE COMMERCIAL AIRPLANE PILOT WAS PERFORMING 'QUICK STOP' MANEUVERS WHILE PRACTICING FOR HIS HELICOPTER RATING. HE REPORTED THAT HE ENTERED THE MANEUVER AT 20 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, THEN MADE SEVERAL ADJUSTMENTS WITH BOTH CYCLIC AND COLLECTIVE IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAINTAIN ROTOR RPM AND ALTITUDE. THE HELICOPTER DESCENDED DURING THE MANEUVER AND THE TAIL ROTOR STRUCK THE GROUND. THE PILOT STATED THAT HE BEGAN TO LOSE DIRECTIONAL CONTROL AFTER THE TAIL ROTOR GROUND CONTACT, SO HE REDUCED COLLECTIVE AND MADE A HARD LANDING ON THE GRASS ADJACENT TO THE RUNWAY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_CHI91LA205.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (icing). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗