Aircraft was on a test flight to try to establish cause of vibrations, source ARCC.
Pure speculation but.....
In the hover at ?ft. Tail rotor drive failed, check the piccies, sheared trds, a pretty clean break at that. No sign of bending which would be expected if it had broken when the pylon became detached.
Theory, tail rotor drive shaft hangar bearing failed/seized, shaft overheated and sheared, the rest is history. The only direction you are going, or would wish to go after that is downwards, quickly!
As I say, pure speculation. But this is a rumour network after all!!
A question though. Do Sea Kings have IHUM's or equivalent fitted? I presume that is not a state secret.
The guys in this machine did well to be able to walk away, although I suspect it was a case of drop the lever and hang on... B.Z.
I am sure crab will have some thing to say?