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Old 27th Aug 2021, 14:35
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cattletruck
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Mesopotamos
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Regarding running out of anti-torque pedal, I stumbled across this post from long ago by Nick Lappos which is worth a repost.

If you slip down in Nr by even a bit, it can have a double effect. Here's why:
The thrust you deliver from the tail rotor creates the anti-torque, and is proportional to the pitch setting and the square of the Nr. If you reduce Nr by 2%, you reduce the thrust by 4%, which could get you close to limits in some cases.

The anti-torque that you need is proportional to the main rotor torque. If you droop Nr, the rotor needs the same power, but power is torque times Nr, so for constant power, the Main Rotor torque must go up. For a 2% droop in Nr, the torque will rise by 2%, and the anti-torque needed wil have to rise.

Thus, a given droop in Nr produces non-linear effect on the tail rotor margin.

A third effect is the need for the helicopter to point into the wind, like a weathervane. When crosswind, this effect is maximized.

Another effect that can play is vertical maneuvering. Note that a slight torque rise (manifold pressure for recips) will require a corresponding anti-torque response to maintain heading. If you nudge the collective upward and droop the Nr a bit, you can easily carve 5 or 7 knots off the side flight capability of the machine. For a hairy flare at the bottom of a too-fast approach, the main torque can be pumped to 10 or 15% above hover torque, and the tail rotor can be saturated.

There really is no such thing as Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness, BTW - for a given density altitude, the tail rotor always produces a given maximum amount of thrust and a given maximum effectiveness, it is just that it can be swamped by main rotor torque rises, and by crosswind effects. Generally, only marginal tail rotors experience LTE, and the vast majority of LTE events are experienced by only two types of helicopter. LTE is not a pervasive helicopter problem.
Whatever the issue in that video, I think the pilot, after realising he was in trouble low down, went for the paddock when out of nowhere comes a bus full of tourists and it's too late. Glad there were no major injuries.
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