Control Malfunction

[Gray 14]

Control malfunction
Right, hope this does not get moved to the end of the T/R line like yesterday...!

The event took place shortly after take off with AS 80 kts and accelerating.

The yaw was immediate and hard right. With no thought pattern, I had the cyclic full right and aft with full left pedal(!).

The aircraft was barely controllable, waffling around a desire to go full circle or beyond 90 degrees of bank.

I started a descent to a rice field and executed the school taught running landing with throttle cut just before touchdown. Well, the L-13 idles at 71% so when I cut the throttle, the machine moved from around 80 degrees yaw to 45 degrees yaw.

I reached over and hit the idle detent and closed the throttle completely. The aircraft yawed left just as the left skit touched down!

Nobody was on the cyclic at the time of touchdown.

Got hooked back later in the day.

16th Group safety officer decided that the door came off due to improper pre-flight so cancelled the broken wing award.

BTW, some local VC in a village nearby decided to fire a few rounds our way just to make things more interesting.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

[Saint Jack]

Hi Gray 14, "Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth" eh, not too long after that you and I worked together at Kemayoran then met up again at Balikpapan. Wow, was it really that long ago?

[Shawn Coyle]

Gray 14:
Can you tell us a bit more about the helicopter type? And what the cause of the problem was?
Nice flying by the way - congratulations on handling a scenario that is definitely not taught every day.

[SASless]

Gray....I assume you were in the left hand seat at the time....thus requiring you to use your right hand to hit the Idle Detent Release Switch that is located on the right hand seat collective. Which would also explain why there was no hand on the cyclic while that was done. (Just want non-Huey pilots to understand the situation you were faced with.)

To what benefit did your Army training benefit you during this event? Do you advocate that kind of training when possible?

Excellent flying!

[Gray 14]

Initial problem was a cargo door coming off in flight, taking out the tail rotor and 90 degree gear box in a UH-1H Huey.

Basic configuration with the battery in the nose and 5 Grunts on board.

You are correct...AC in the left seat of a slick (UH-1H). And yes, the detent being on the other side.

Army training and the prevalent attitude of the time to fly the machine as far into the accident as possible, meaning do not give up, had a lot to do with the out come.

Also, a few months earlier, a sister unit had a Huey go down with a T/R failure. Just before they crashed, the AC was heard to call out "Hit the flight idle detent!!" a couple of times....Guess it popped up in my mind when the yaw stayed in effect at flight idle.

The cyclic "trigger" switch was two position. First for intercom and second for xmit. Well, three...if you consider off to be a position.

It was a real deal and one I will never forget...along with another action that got me in the crap with the bad guys but ended up with a machine full of holes and a DFC. Need a few beers to get started in on that one though.

By the way, I was 19 years old at the time.

Cheers,

GD

[floatsarmed]

"It was a real deal and one I will never forget...along with another action that got me in the crap with the bad guys but ended up with a machine full of holes and a DFC. Need a few beers to get started in on that one though.

By the way, I was 19 years old at the time". :eek:




Respect Sir. :ok:

[SASless]

Sorta kinda like the time my friends complimented on the two very "cool, calm, and collected" Mayday calls I put out one morning. To which I replied...."Mayday calls? What Mayday Calls?" Performance under stress....amazing isn't it?

[piggybank]

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