Nick,
Please may I emphasise that the good advice given in the main thrust of your last post applies ONLY to helicopters with the main rotors turning in the "American" direction i.e. from right to left as the pilot looks out the front.
It is vital for pilots to remember that for aircraft with the "French" main rotor direction i.e. left to right from the pilot's perspective, the OPPOSITE is true with regard to the "lucky" side. "Lucky left / Rotten right only applies to "American" rotor direction of rotation.
I speak as someone who has had spells alternately flying Sikorsky then Aerospatiale / Eurocopter designs for some years (almost every other job!).
For a while I was heavily involved in the RAF Puma Sim project and flew it from the front as well as instructing from the rear of the box, so I have seen how confused some pilots can get during tail rotor malfunctions. I have also since carried out the FSI S-76 sim initial and recurrent courses and similarly the US Army UH-60 Blackhawk sim courses.
From my own experiences, and I've said this before on another recent thread on this forum about tail rotor malfunctions, but I do think it is worth repeating, - the "lucky" side appropriate to any helicopter is the RETREATING BLADE side. All the pilot then has to remember is which side is the retreating blade side - and hopefully he should remember that from the rotor start!
The "lucky" side is the safe side to keep the nose cocked off towards during flight towards a suitable landing area and on the approach. Also it helps to keep any crosswind coming from that same retreating blade side during final approach with a tail rotor control malfunction, if there is a choice of landing direction. Increasing power by raising the collective then brings the nose around to point straight ahead for a landing, by increasing the main rotor torque reaction. Once the nose comes around towards the straight ahead position you have found the power/airspeed combination at which the aircraft should be best to land. If this lies within the normal landing parameters for the aircraft, then the pilot will have an excellent chance of landing without breaking anything.
Two more points: I strongly advocate any pilot suffering a tail rotor malfunction to carry out a "dummy approach" at height if circumstances allow and personally I am not a great fan of messing around with engine controls to control yaw, as this can complicate the issue (I've seen quite a few pilots get it horribly wrong in the sim)although I would agree that it may be the good thing to try if you are on the ground and about to yaw off the edge of the landing area.
Cheers, keep up the good work.
Edited for typos; it's well past my bedtime.
ShyT
[ 02 August 2001: Message edited by: ShyTorque ]