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Old 3rd Oct 2021, 19:11
  #8 (permalink)  
Ascend Charlie
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Great South East, tired and retired
Posts: 4,380
Received 209 Likes on 95 Posts
We had a Huey B model that did something questionable and the fleet was grounded. Engineers combed the aircraft, no obvious fault found, did a D service, and I took it up for the Post-D test flight schedule, it was the smoothest in the fleet. But I didn't want to release it yet.

A USN TPS-qualified test pilot who was transiting the base was called in, and the next day he took it out with the original crew who had the incident, and for a completely different reason, the tail rotor and gearbox came off, mast strike, blade separation and ballistic from 1500'.

I felt horror, and I felt lucky.
Ascend Charlie is online now