FDR’s posts lead to another aspect of the flying in the opening video and a subject I’ve mentioned in a few PM’s but will repeat here.
Military or commercial, this aspect of qualification in the helicopter business is pretty much the same. During development, a flight loads survey is flown by the contractor. The maneuvers gross weights and altitudes are agreed upon either by the FAA or the respective military service. The flight loads data are then compared with the ground test fatigue load test data from the lab testing of components and then applied to the flight spectrum agreed to by the customer ( military ) or the FAA. Out of this the component replacement times ( CRT’s ) are derived and put in the maintenance manuals.
Now, we are talking about fatigue damage, not static overload failure. I have no idea of how the flight loads survey for that model Robinson was conducted nor whether the maneuvers in the video were included.
Here is an example-perhaps a bit far out, but true:
Before the main marketing effort with the S-67 Blackhawk took place, we had done the limited aerobatic maneuvers with full structural instrumentation. We had done rolls both to the left and right. Roll rates were similar-around 100 deg/sec. Rolls were done with pedals fixed ( as was the collective ). Rolls to the left, however, resulted in tail rotor bending moments that were high enough to affect the fatigue life of that component, Enough such that all the rolls on all of the marketing trips etc were done to the right.
So, when you see an aircraft being flown in what looks like an over-aggressive manner, the real question( or better: questions, plural ) to ask is whether the manufacturer had included that sort of flying in the flight loads survey and then whether some components have reduced CRT’s as a result. N.B. After seeing Karl Zimmermann perform his simply beautiful aerobatic ballet at the 1982 Hanover Airshow, I asked him abut that subject in general, and he told me that MBB had provided a structural clearance for his show ( I do not recall if there were CRT penalties ).