Originally Posted by
Uplinker
Many thanks for the various explanations re mast bumping etc.. I asked because many years ago, before I was a pilot, I was given an R22 ride as a birthday present. The pilot let me have a bit of a waggle on the controls etc, then did a simulated engine-out auto rotate to a landing. This went well, but knowing what I know now, I would have said "no thanks" to that particular part of the demonstration !!
With all the mast bumping incidents, is it not well overdue for a redesign - strengthening the mast and some sort of soft ring within the teeter head to prevent mast damage from bumping?
The only way to completely eliminate this mast bumping issue would be to add a third blade. Given that the newest addition to the small, light, piston, training world (the Cabri G2) does have a third blade, and is around $100/hr more expensive than the R22, adding that third blade to the R22 would most likely defeat the purpose of it, which was to be an "affordable" alternative in a very expensive industry.
Anyway, better training seems to have eliminated most of these types of accidents here in the States where the R22 is the most common training helicopter. Why they are still happening in New Zealand is beyond me?