Space Shuttle Critical 1
As a much younger man, I remember reading about the Space Shuttle, I was shocked to discover it had 800 parts which were classed as 'Critical 1'.
If just one of these failed it meant an almost certain catastrophic loss. Sounded way too dangerous to me.
And that got me wondering, how many Critical 1 type incidents could affect a helicopter.
Lets see:
- Blade falls off
- Cyclic fail/jam
- Collective fail/jam (jam up - you have your very own oribiter)
- Main mast fail
- Sprag clutch seize/fail
- Main gearbox seize/fail
- Tail boom off
- Tail rotor gearbox jam/off
- Frame comes apart
- Cabin comes apart/falls off
- Pilot Immobilized
What about critical 2 - life threatening but recoverable with proper action
- Throttle fail
- Fuel out
- Engine fail
- Tail rotor fail/fall off
- Fuel leak
- Electrical fail
- Minor fire
- Clutch fault
- Drive belt fault
The there's the old pilot error stuff
- Flying inside the H/V curve
- Tubulance
- Wrong control input
- Vortex ring
- Rollover
- Weather
- Not being able to land clear
- Bird strike
- Collision with ground/cables/aircraft
- Misjudgement-eg emergency practice accidents
I guess there's more I've missed.
And some you disagree with.
But what I find real interesting is the stuff that I'm normally most concerned about - eg engine failure, other mechnical fault, I class as critical 2 - recoverable in most cases.
Critical 1 I hardly even consider! Mostly these are preventable with good pre-flight checks- but when did you last really, really check the control linkages ?
And I suppose the pilot error stuff is mostly about having the right attitude/taking care.
Conclusion ?
Spend as much time and energy making sure the Critical 1 stuff doesn't happen as I spend practicing for if/when a critical 2 does.
Now where did I put that space-suit.
sw