Tail Rotor failures
Summary:
The report contains what the CAA describes as the "deliverable" from from the QinetiQ research project ‘Helicopter Tail Rotor
Failures’ carried out for the CAA under a contract awarded to the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) in 1997. The project was co-funded by the Ministry of Defence.
The project studied tail rotor failures and their consequences and was carried out because of overwhelming evidence gathered by the UK Tail Rotor Action Committee that TRFs were occurring at rates much greater than the airworthiness design standards require. This was true for both tail rotor drive and control systems, and applied to both civil and military types.
The principal aims of the study were to analyse and quantify the nature and extent of the problem, and explore ways to reduce failure/accident rates and/or mitigate their effects in the future. In addition, existing training procedures and handling advice
were examined and means of improvement suggested to prepare aircrew better for the effects of TRFs.
The study looked into the nature and extent of helicopter tail rotor failures, techniques/technologies to reduce occurrence and/or mitigate consequences, existing emergency procedures and handling advice, current pilot training practice and simulators, existing airworthiness requirements. It included piloted simulation-based experimental work.
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