Following all the goo on the African Aviation site regarding the EC120 roll over in Durban, some interesting questions have been raised.
It seems that the crux of the matter is that the EC120 involved was engaged in a training sortie and the good old Tail Rotor Control Failure exercise was being carried out. This is where it all ended up as a pile of paper work for the insurers and Civil Aviation to sort out. Apparently the guys ended up with a violent onset of uncontrollable yaw so rapid that they elected to keep it in the air for a while in the hopes of getting the beast under control rather than dumping early and possibly bending the skids. But alas keeping it in the air meant lots of whirly whirly and then the ultimate decision to dump the machine resulting in the roll over. From what I can gather the guy did a good job as he managed to get it onto the ground quite level but the right aft section of the skid dug in (had a bit of rain over the previous couple of days) causing the dynamic roll over situation. He estimates the rate of rotation to be in the region of 120-160 deg per sec as things got rather blurred.
The CAA have pulled ratings based on "fenestron issues" that they say the guys don't know about. Sounds like they are hinting at differences between conventional and Fenestron systems, but they wont provide the information.
So the BEEEEG ? - are there any guys out there that have this information on hand so the rest of the guys (instructors) that escaped the CAA sword can continue training and at least be a little more versed in the finer aspects of this "fenestron issue" that is causing such a stir on the African Aviation site.
