Ahhhhh terminology. It is the bane of all good technical discussions.
SASless, I think you will find that the thrust of Nick's post was that at 5800 RRPM and full left pedal in the Huey you most definately were NOT experiencing LTE.
RDR: the training manuals will not use the same terminology that allows for technical correctness: they often use a term to ensure that the basic concept is quickly inderstood by a pilot whom does not need to get involved in the pure technicality of the issue, see the threads on gyroscopic precession and centrifugal forces for example. On a previous thread I proposed a terminology "cleanup" for this topic in particular response to the fact that so many seem to confuse LTE with the overpitching example Nick gives.
Nick: I have chosen the term LTA in preference to overpitching because overpitching infers that the pitch has exceeded the ability of the blade thrust to overcome the drag induced by the pitch angle, in the same way as it is used to describe the main rotor situation. I believe it is possible to run out of pedal without overpitching - ie you have reached maximum tailrotor lift ability but the main rotor torque is producing a requirement exceeding this. LTA covers overpitching as a cause as well as torque requirement exceeding lift producing ability.
Here are my thoughts for you all to shoot down:
Loss of tail rotor control: You are not able to control the tail rotor pitch mechanism.
Loss of tail rotor thrust: Little spinning thing at the back stops spinning or falls off.
Loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE): "Newly" discovered and named in the 80's after many (in particular OH-58/B206) accidents. Although somewhat awkwardly named (as the tail rotor is still effectivly working and must be providing thrust) LTE refers to what is thought to be an injestion of main or tail rotor vorticey through the tail rotor which causes an onset of yaw in the direction induced by torque that cannot be overcome by the application of full "power pedal". The yaw rotation can build up quickly enough to fool most pilots into believing they have experienced a loss of tail rotor thrust. The concept has come under fire lately because of the early thoughts that the tail rotor enters vortex ring state being a little hard to proove. Oh - and then there is fenestron stall that possibly fits into this category too, although strongly denied as a possibility by the manufacturer whilst alledgedly being strongly experienced by the pilots!
Loss of Tail Rotor Authority(LTA): A term to make the old Huey war story of "..and then I ran out of bloody left pedal and..." sound a little more sophisticated and technical. In this situation, the tail rotor does not produce enough lift to counteract the torque/crosswind combination you require, your power pedal hits the stop, and around you go - though often quite gently when compared to LTE or loss of thrust. A lot of aircraft are susceptable to this, but the UH-1D/H Huey is famous for it - and many people have had the earth come up and smite them as a result. Someone mentioned the BK117 - it too is quite susceptible to LTA unless fitted with the C model tail rotor.
...be gentle
