Originally Posted by
212man
Have you read the report? It clearly states the afte tail cone, TGB and empennage detached during departure, the aircraft descended yawing rapidly to the right, and impacted on its right side.
I apparently failed to clarify the source of my confusion. In the subject photograph, the aft end of the tail boom is bent to the left, which would indicate a left-hand rotation of the fuselage as it impacted on its right side. I did read the report, and do not doubt that the helicopter rotated violently to the right after the loss of its tail rotor and associated hardware. I'm sure someone on this Forum can explain this apparent (to me anyway) contradiction.
Any way, back to the question at hand. I read with interest the FAA Airworthiness Directive (effective 22 May, 2020) concerning cracks found in the tail rotor blades of certain R-44 and R-44II helicopters. The AD indicated that it was believed that: "The cracks were caused by high fatigue stresses due to resonance when the blades were at high pitch angles from large left pedal inputs." I did not see any mention of this AD in the ATSB Preliminary Report. I'm not sure how long or for how many hours the owner of the accident helicopter operated it out of the industrial estate on the north side of Broome, but from looking at the ATSB Preliminary Report, it could have been for as much as 40 hours or so. It was reported that operating out of the industrial estate required a steep if not vertical departure, which would have required a lot of power and a lot of left pedal to counter act the torque ... just the thing that may have caused the TRB cracks described in the AD. Loss of even a portion of a tail rotor blade would have resulted in severe imbalance, possibly involving forces sufficient to cause separation of the tail rotor gear box. The ATSB report described their examination of the tail rotor gear box, and no defects were detected.
Tail rotor blade loss may or may not have been instrumental in the cause of this crash. At this point, who knows for sure? It's a puzzler, and hopefully, the cause of the crash will be found before any further similar crashes can occur.
Regards,
Grog