PAN my old friend. Once again with the MD bashing.
The Grand Canyon crash had nothing to do with a Notar failure. It was an anti torque control rod failure as you pointed out. All helicopters have those, even your beloved Eurocopter fleet. So how was that a Notar failure? There was nothing wrong with the fan, coanda slots in the boom or thrusters can.
The German crash was caused by the pilot dropping the machine off a mobile helipad . I’m sure an embarrassed pilot would be keen to blame anything on such a mistake. It was the wind, err the Notar, err it was the sun was in my eyes. I’ve seen the London HEMS crew land their 902 on a helipad only 2 foot wider than the skids in gusting winds that I wouldn’t even want to stand up in. Mind you they are very experienced pilots.
Nick,
The Rudder system on the 902 is independent to the Notar system in every way with only a small resister on the pedals being the only input. The rest of the rudder or VSCS system is controlled by electronics which are actually more concerned with vertical movements than yaw inputs. The rest of the Notar system must be considered as one as a failure of either the fan or thruster would result in a bad day for the pilot.
As far as I’m concerned apart from being a bit quieter than a tail rotor or Fenestron the system scores hands down when you have FOD blowing around the tail. Wasn’t it one of the Devon air ambulances BO 105’s that hit the tree and crashed? I’ve also seen a Tesco carrier bag cripple an EC135 Fenestron. The last London HEMS incident resulted in a large hole in the L/H fin from FOD damage which may have been disastrous to a tail rotor or Fen.
The Notar system is not better generally than a tail rotor or Fen’ but if you want to avoid FOD issues when landing away from base then it is a good compromise. Even when the fan is damaged by FOD it has still shown to perform very well.
Just my 2c worth but then I am bias.
Dr A
P.S. The Notar may be over 15 years old but how much development has it had in that time. Err practically none. If it got the investment that the Fenestron has had I think it would be a winner.