UH-1 crashes in Australia during fire fighting
Scrambe Magazine
On 7 December 2019, a New South Wales (NSW, Australia) UH-1H Huey waterbomber, owned by OAS Parts LLC but operated by Rural Fire Service / Touchdown Helicopters crashed during a fire fighting mission. The sole pilot survived the incident without any injuries.
The Huey was busy dropping retartand near the massive Jarrah Road fire in Crawford River, north of Newcastle, Mid North Coast, New South Wales.
The UH-1H, registration VH-OXI / 229 made a hard landing and subsequently lost both the main rotor and main gear box compartment during fire-fighting operations. The Iroquois has construction number 4204 assigned and is former US Army 64-13479. After its USAr career the helicopter was sold as N3147M in the mid-ninetees. It was assigned to the Australian civil aviation register as VH-OXI in October 2015.