The Huey Helicopter "parked" along a forest trail in the North of Thailand

[Lone Rider]

Seen the interest in the helicopter "parked" along one of the tracks in the North of Thailand (Location - Lat 19.66383 Lon 98.41286) I have been digging a bit further but up to now I have not been able to find a lot of info other than what has been reported here on RideAsia. A Google Earth satellite image from December 2010 apparently does not show the helicopter near the landing pad.



AsiaRider in his trip report of November 2011 has a few pictures of the Huey (1517) complete with the rotors and presumably with the engine at the edge of the landing pad. Have been searching the archives of military related air crashes and while Thailand is mentioned with 3 helicopters lost in a week time in 2010, I have not been able to find anything on this particular mishap.

Asia Rider - Around the North 2000 km

Guess that the next RideAsia member to see the Huey was Mike Hohman in March 2013 and at that time the main rotor as well as the engine had been taken of but the tail rotor was still there

Mike Hohman - Look what I found in the jungle

In June 2013 Bob Kelly and David and Mai Bailey checked on the helicopter and the tail rotor was still there maybe because it was in-accessible as the tail was hanging of the landing pad

Bob kelly - Over the hills and Far Away

In December 2013 Pounce had a look and at that time the Huey had been moved completely on the landing pad but the tail rotor was still there but the inside had been stripped bare of all kind of stuff like switches, dials, etc. This "stripping" may have happened earlier but I did not find any earlier pictures of the interior of the Huey

Gnasher had a look in February, followed by Forest/Rider who went there in March 2014 and the rot had started as at that time the tail rotor was gone and the front which housed electronics and a battery was gone

Gnasher - I never thought I would so glad to see Pai again

Forest/Rider - Crashed Huey helicopter site ride

The BigFellah and myself went there a few days ago and here are a few pictures of the inside of the Huey

The front and a closeup of it

This is probably how the inside of the Huey looked like when it was still operational - Source: Helicopter History Site

A few more pictures:

 

[bsacbob]

Thanks Auke for gathering this info into one thread, i do recall just to add to the folklore that another helicopter was lost further down the hill trying to retrieve the other one, but this is unconfirmed.

 

[LivinLOS]

Thanks Auke for gathering this info into one thread, i do recall just to add to the folklore that another helicopter was lost further down the hill trying to retrieve the other one, but this is unconfirmed.

I remember the 2 crashes, the second while searching for the first, but never was sure if either related to this one.

 

[Lone Rider]

Bsacob and LivinLOS,

I guess you are referring to the crashes in the Kaeng Krachan National park where 3 helicopters crashed in a spate of a week or so - see A third army helicopter crashes - Voice TV 21, here Gen Prayudh Lashes Back At Copter Critics - Voice TV 21 and here: Armys Black Hawk Crashes At Border - Voice TV 21

It may well be that, having lost 3 choppers in 2010, the Thai Army may not have been happy to report the loss of another one in the North as there is nothing in the news for as far as I have been able to find.

 

[The Bigfella]

Thanks Auke - and thanks for taking me whilst I'm "wheel-less"

Some thoughts on the trips there. The road in was reasonable but probably shouldn't be done on a street bike because if it rained, it would be "interesting" and there's some pretty severe drop-offs and ruts. The main deterrent would be the steep bulldust sections that had us in low range 4WD. Its crook when your dust cloud overtakes you









Lots of slash and burn going on... right up to the edge of the track in places



Another streetbike warning... these pine needles were slippery and all over the track in parts



Yeah - it could be done, but don't blame me if you try it and find yourself sitting on your bum, 500' down a gully saying "woops"

Some more chopper shots

 

[The Bigfella]

A few more







Someone has taken one of the pedals. We left it untouched btw.... except for a loose screw I found on the ground

 

[KTMphil]

Probably the best collection of photo's of this helicopter available on the internet.

 

[Lone Rider]

Some more info from Max on the Huey. He rode this track with another group of bikers sometime early in the rainy season (June/July) in 2011 and at that time the Huey was not yet there. This would put the timing of the mishap sometime between June/July 2011 and November 2011 when AsiaRider took pictures of the "parked" Huey or about 3 years ago.

 

[Forest]

Lucky the road has just been done by a bulldozer last month or so .after the rain can gets a bit difficult to go up with a car.
.i live at Pai hotsprings. (i'm now away for a month)but if someone goes up there give me a shout. i am always happy to join for a ride

 

[SteveDarke]

Thanks for this. 1517 was indeed a Thai Army UH-1H. Not been seen for a while, and indeed is (or was in January) still listed as active based at Lopburi.

As you say, the loss of a UH-1H, followed by the rescue Black Hawk, then a Bell 212 in July 2011, probably made the Army a bit sensitive!

Any further news welcome.

Steve Darke
Thai Aviation History

 

[brake034]

Welcome Steve!

 

[KTMphil]

Steve, my brother in is a soldier stationed in Lop Buri, I'll see if he has any information.

Thanks for this. 1517 was indeed a Thai Army UH-1H. Not been seen for a while, and indeed is (or was in January) still listed as active based at Lopburi.

As you say, the loss of a UH-1H, followed by the rescue Black Hawk, then a Bell 212 in July 2011, probably made the Army a bit sensitive!

Any further news welcome.

Steve Darke
Thai Aviation History

 

[brake034]

Steve, do you have any history / info on Thoeng (Chiang Rai) airstip?? Sorry to shoot off topic.......
Link> THOENG AIRPORT

 

[Lone Rider]

Thanks for this. 1517 was indeed a Thai Army UH-1H. Not been seen for a while, and indeed is (or was in January) still listed as active based at Lopburi.

As you say, the loss of a UH-1H, followed by the rescue Black Hawk, then a Bell 212 in July 2011, probably made the Army a bit sensitive!

Any further news welcome.

Steve Darke
Thai Aviation History

Thanks Steve for the info - checked the database on ARMY (pdf file) - updated 13 April 2014 and indeed on page 34 the 1517 is said to belong initially (2005) to the 1st Air Mobile Company in Saphan Nak and subsequently (2014) to the 29th Transportation Company based in Lopburi.

​

 

[MastaMax]

Some more info from Max on the Huey. He rode this track with another group of bikers sometime early in the rainy season (June/July) in 2011 and at that time the Huey was not yet there. This would put the timing of the mishap sometime between June/July 2011 and November 2011 when AsiaRider took pictures of the "parked" Huey or about 3 years ago.

Thanks for the update. Here it is, at 4:20 no helicopter. This ride was somewhere in July or begin August 2011.

edit: btw, is there a way to make a timed video link, like:
Enduro riding from Thailand into Shan State, Burma - YouTube

 

[bsacbob]

Thanks for putting up this video again Max, awesome

 

[alexuk]

Nice to see that video again. It gives a really good idea of typical wet season riding conditions

 

[SteveDarke]

Hi guys, yes the Army.pdf file referred to is mine, on my website.

Steve Darke
Thai Aviation History

 

[SteveDarke]

Hi, don't have anything to hand at the moment, but let me ask around.

Steve

 

[Lone Rider]

Another "Thank You" for this post and a link to this RideAsia thread, this time from Helicopter History Site Apparently the Huey started life in the US as a US Army helicopter 72-21517

 

[bsacbob]

Some Thai riders have been past the Huey of late and posted on FB, look's like if you want to see it best get there soon it's almost stripped.

 

[bikesncats]

Some Thai riders have been past the Huey of late and posted on FB, look's like if you want to see it best get there soon it's almost stripped.

Who's doing the stripping, army or locals? Just thinking of procuring myself "some cheap" Ti 6/4 for my next bike project ... that huey looks like a willing donor so he may live on in a new form ...

 

[Forest]

if u make it to Pai I ll take u up there! nice ride

Who's doing the stripping, army or locals? Just thinking of procuring myself "some cheap" Ti 6/4 for my next bike project ... that huey looks like a willing donor so he may live on in a new form ...

 

[bikesncats]

if u make it to Pai I ll take u up there! nice ride

Great ... con 2 muli ... we get double as much material down :RE When we're done I'll show you how to weld Ti "on the cheap" and still get state of the art results

 

[Forest]

hehe ye right..there is army/armed kids nearby, up there! but sounds like fun to rebuild this thing

Great ... con 2 muli ... we get double as much material down :RE When we're done I'll show you how to weld Ti "on the cheap" and still get state of the art results

 

[merantau]

Some sustained tough riding conditions - thanks for sharing.