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Old 5th January 2002 | 12:45
  #28 (permalink)  
Thomas coupling
 
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,670
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From: UK
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Interestingly, the crash check list for the AS355 states that in the event of a chip light in the TRGB: "continue flight, avoid prolonged hovering"...
For some pilots, this leads them to believe that the 'experts' have identified this as a minor inconvenience and that there is apparently little to worry about!

To my knowledge, atleast 2 355's have crashed because the pilot has continued flight with a TRGB chip light. One of them was caused by the GB departing the airframe.
No-one knows why the chip light comes on in the TRGB, is it because of debris, or heat!!

More startling to me, is that after 25+ years of service, the 355 crash check pertaining to this malfunction has not changed!!! No-one seems to have queried it?? [Lemmings comes to mind]. My military experience taught me to question everything. 9 times out of 10 it made sense, but occasionally, just ocassionally, something like this pops up and further research is required.
I changed our procedure, 7 years ago, to read:
In the event of a chip light from the TRGB, land ASAP.
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