Page 9 - EAA 78 Chapter Chatter
P. 9
CHAPTER CHATTER, EAA Chapter 78 8
Distractions Are Deadly: How You
Can Avoid This Accident
CLICK THE PICTURE
This restored Vietnam War era UH-1H Huey helicopter
is a flying piece of history operated by the non profit
group VietnamHelicopters.org and used for fundraising
for veteran related organizations and families of fallen On May 24th, 2013, a twin-engine Piper PA-34-200T
soldiers. The reason this video is titled "Pancho's Huey Seneca broke up mid-air over Johnstown, NY. Both the
'961" is in tribute to Gonzolo "Pancho" Salazar who pilot and single passenger were killed. According to the
served his country as Crew Chief of this Huey for NTSB, "the volunteer medical transport flight was
fourteen months during his service in Vietnam which established on course toward an en route navigational
lasted from December 15, 1967 to August 22, 1969. fix. Upon reaching the fix, the flight was expected to
The crews of Huey helicopters in Vietnam used the last continue toward the initial approach fix for an
three digits of the serial number as part of their call instrument approach at the Rome, NY Airport (KRME).
sign for flight operations, and this Huey is "961". Thank About 5 miles southeast of the en route fix, the airplane
you for your service Pancho! began to deviate off course."
"When asked by an air traffic controller about the
Logbooks Matter More Than You reason for the deviation, the pilot stated that the
Think - Here's What You Need To airplane had turned "the wrong way" and indicated that
he had incorrectly loaded the instrument approach into
Know the airplane's GPS. The controller provided a vector to
the pilot to return the airplane to the previously
established course, and the pilot acknowledged. About
1 minute later, radar contact with the airplane was lost"
(NTSB).
