S76 Parking Brake Handle vs Collective

[wde]

I am doing a quick survey. We recently had an event when the Pilot reached down to set the parking brake and grabbed the collective instead. The aircraft jumped about a foot into the air before settling back to terra firma.

It happened at the end of a night shift where the crew had flown 7 hrs over a 13 hr period.

They were tired, no doubt, and when I first heard of this I thought to myself what an odd thing to do. However, since then, I have received numerous reports from our crews of similar (if not quite so drastic) mistakes happening when setting the parking brake.

Do any of you have similar stories? What kind of control measures have you as individuals or your companies put into place to prevent reccurrence? Any and all tips are welcome.

wde

[coolhand110]

Same event happenned at Helijet a few years back parked right in front of passenger terminal. Aircraft became airborne with no AFCS , landed without incident. Change to checklist, engine levers to idle then apply parking brake.

[HeliComparator]

We had a similar event on the EC225 in front of the passenger terminal (aircraft leapt into the air with lots of nose down!). In the case of the 225, the solution is to be sure to lock the collective first, then apply the parking brake.

But IIRC the 76 has no lock nor friction on the collective? If you fly 2-pilot, one possibility is to pass control of the collective to the other pilot before applying the parking brake. Or even mod the aircraft to fit a collective lock?

Whilst we have cars that have handbrakes that resemble collectives, this incident is bound to happen from time to time unless procedures are in place to prevent it. Without adequate procedures (that are adhered to ) its only a matter of time before it happens again.

HC

[D.Curle]

Hey wde,

here on the north sea,two crew,before applying the brakes the guy in the left seat will cover or guard the collective, and if I am on my own in the cockpit about to apply the parking brakes,I always look down physically to make sure I have grabbed the right lever...takes all but a second.....
cheers.

[ShyTorque]

Yes, I understand this issue; I did it once on the 76. Cognitive failure when fatigued. Funny thing was, I knew as soon as I touched the collective I'd got it wrong but still somehow gave it a tweak. The aircraft jumped a bit but I didn't pull enough pitch to get airborne.

[victor papa]

Was in the cockpit once when it happened after a strenuous ferry flight at a international airport. Never saw the marshaller again as he ran like mad when the 76 got "airworthy".

[js0987]

Once upon a time, in an S76 galaxy far far away, I had a collective to yaw lockup. After doing a run on landing and coming to a stop, I had bottomed the collective with the requisite full right pedal. Being extremely happy to be on the ground, and not wanting to fly anymore that day, I reached up and jerked the engine levers back to idle. Well, the nose whipped to the right, I instinctively pushed left pedal, up came the collective, and the S76 popped into the air and did its own hovering auto. It's never over, till it's over.

[Super 61]

This also happened on an S92 in Miri last year, not too dramatic, but a change to the checklist was required. NFP now guards collective when brake is applied.

[cyclicoyibo]

We also use the PNF to guard the collective whenever the brake is to be applied. In addition, I encourage pilots to turn their wrist so that their fingers are pointing towards the centre console as they apply the brake. Impossible to grasp the collective with the back of your hand!

[Old Skool]

Not long ago an S76 was being parked by the PF in the left hand seat, the PNF in the right seat was eyes inside reading the checklist, the PF reached over to set the parking brake, as he did he thinks 'he may have leaned on the right pedal' as he was pushing the toe brake. The aircraft pitched nose up and rolled towards the left side. By the time the two pilots noticed the blade was a foot or so away from hitting the concrete on the left. 12 very scared passengers, one damaged left wheel, a change to the ops spec and clean trolleys all around.

[wde]

Wow... I guess our guys have some good company!!!

I talked with some folks at Sikorsky last week and they have heard 'anecdotal' stories but no reports of any aircraft being bent from this type of event.

I asked about the possibility of a collective lock and was told that on the risk management curve, the potential outcome from having a pilot accidentally pull the collective instead of the parking brake was overshadowed by the potential outcome of having a collective lock inadvertently engaged in flight.

We are leaning towards an SOP amendment requiring the throttles to be brought to idle prior to brake engagement, for normal operations. We might add having the co-pilot guard the collective for those situations where bringing the throttles back is not prudent.

Thanks for the feedback.

wde

[Spacer]

Not the same aircraft, but I did see someone once pull the collective instead of the rotor brake on an AS350 during shut down. Gave for an impressive demonstration of coning.

[helimutt]

wde, That would be difficult for us as we aren't permitted to bring Nr/eng levers back whilst on the ground with people coming in and out of area under disk. I like the idea of turning the fingers towards centre console.

This doesn't apply to me as yet because I am only allowed to sit on the left hand side as a co-pilot.

[jab]

The way I have learned and done it is to have the FP always on the controls while the rotors are turning, preferably looking outside too. That way the NFP can do all other tasks, including applying the parking brake. Can be awkward sometimes but it is possible. I try to apply a similar rule in the cockpit when flying, one pair of eyes always outside. Even if there is an emergency, one person flies while the other handles the task inside. An emergency may kill you, a collision will, generally.

[P2bleed]

As mentioned this maneuver has been accomplished before mainly at the end of a long day. I believe BHA in Oz have had a procedure for a number of years where the NHP always has his hand on the lever when the brakes are put on and off.

[floatsarmed]

Whilst flying as a fairly new coey, a few moons past, el Capitano (with 16 million hours on type) in the right seat had ripper of a brakes vs collective moment which certainly got my attention from the paperwork. Everything went a very red colour and once I had picked myself up off the floor I managed to stuff the collective back on the floor which of course then had everyone stuck to the roof! Great fairground ride! :eek::eek:Now that the screens had returned to a much nicer shade of green the red glow was coming from the other side of the cockpit!

A few thousand hours later I too have very nearly done it and most other classic cock ups on a few occasions. Like the old saying, there are those who have and there are those who are yet to.

The best method I find to stop myself from getting a similar red face is the same with all these brain/body interface problems...slow down and have a look at it before you switich it, pull it, push it or whatever. The concept of 'fast hands, cool pilot' is b*l:mad:l*cks, just slow down a half second and make sure what your hands are doing is what your brain intends. :ok: I like the fingers round the other way idea though.

[Brian Abraham]

Now retired, but in over 20 years and a few hours of 76 operation had never heard of this problem. Just goes to show you're never too old to learn. floatsarmed - your post sort of places the locale with a reasonable degree of confidence, though with the reporting policy of such events at that locale am not surprised if it got no further than the cockpit.

[Canuck Guy]

As some others said, turning the hand works perfectly.

It's a very akward and unnatural movement from the sitting position and helps your brain snap to attention when fatigued. You have to think a little about where the hand is going when turned like this, as well as look where it's going. Also pulling the lever is equally akward with the hand turned the wrong way, and tends to be a slower, more deliberate pull vs the hard yank everyone seems to do normally.

And as a fail safe, have the other pilot guard their collective with a locked arm. No way you could overpower him/her from your side with the hand turned about this way.

[Freewheel]

Over the years, I've noticed a few functions that the left hand naturally does on the ground that would create a highly disturbing scenario if operated in flight.

For these functions I have adopted the use of my right hand. I find that the unnatural nature of reaching right across my body is useful in ensuring the operation is correct.

Never having sat in a 76, is the use of the right hand (from the right seat) feasible for the this task?

[floatsarmed]

Freewheel, right hand onto brake from the right seat is only possible in the 76 if you are a) an orang utan b) a fairground contortionist! - thats a no. :ok:

Brian, you might be about right there?

[ShyTorque]

And as a fail safe, have the other pilot guard their collective with a locked arm. No way you could overpower him/her from your side with the hand turned about this way.

Single pilot IFR....?

[212man]

Single pilot IFR....?

You must be operating Cat 3c if you're still IFR when you put the parking brake on....:E

[ShyTorque]

It was the single pilot thing, really...... :D

We pre-positioned another pilot at each destination, of course (we did that on our days off). ;)

[tistisnot]

Well I suppose it can be done 'cus people have done it. But good Lord, Allah or Buddah ..... pause, think - don't yank! What is the world coming to ......

[ShyTorque]

pause, think - don't yank! What is the world coming to ......

We can never resist blaming those yanks..... ;)

[Freewheel]

Floatsarmed,

Thanks for that. Short of gymnastic training being included with a 76 endorsement, it sounds to me like turning the hand to the rear is the most sensible suggestion.

[loav8r]

We had a parking brake in the UH-60 Blackhawk sort of like the one in the S-76 except it was futher aft and on the center console. We had a different method in setting the brake than what we use in the civilian sector. Instead of the Pilot on Controls (POC for short) setting the brake, the other pilot would set the brakes...because he was "on the controls." I found this odd in the civilian sector that the POC would release the collective to pull the handle because his responsibility is controlling the aircraft. This is even more important while running on the ground.
Our method required CRM. The POC would lock the brakes with his feet and hold them while the Pilot Not on Controls would pull the brake handle and announce "brakes set." After the announcement from the Pilot Not on Controls, the POC would release the brakes and announce "brakes released." This method worked great and allowed the POC to remain on the controls but it did require CRM.

[Brilliant Stuff]

CHC at Humberside U.K. had such an incident the aircraft jumped into the air and I think it even bent the tail when it came back down. Noone hurt but Management were aghast. This was sometime between 2000-2005.

[donkyoatie]

Don't blame Humberside twas N/Denes - P2 as HP repositioned the aircraft on the spot to provide bettter access for the pax then reached over the center console to set the parking brake and pull the P1 collective up sitting the aircraft on it's tail. Skin and stringer crimps in the tail cone ensued, fortunatly someone had clevely mounted the ADELT so that it could double as a tail bumper thus limiting the airframe damage. :rolleyes:

Check out AAIB website bulletin for Oct 2001

[Brilliant Stuff]

Well as far as we were concerned it was the east coast.:}

Thanks for correcting me.

[AirJockey]

A Sikorsky problem. Has happened on the S-92 as well. Understand it happened during taxi to parking. :ooh:

[Brian Abraham]

A good post cattletruck but I don't know that the blame can be laid entirely at the feet of the engineering department. As I said in a previous post I had never heard of this problem and that is with some thing like 12,000 hours in the bird. Upon reading of the problem and thinking about how I did it I always looked at the handle before pulling, and not because I had any thought that I might pull the collective instead. I managed to make plenty of other cock ups, but brake handle was not one of them.