Many Head Failures inthe Air
nigelh,
There have been many examples of main rotor head component failures in flight. One very good friend was killed in the first S76 which suffered spindle failure and I knew the pilot of the S61 which suffered th same fate. Then there was the S76 in the Southern North Sea in which all died when a blade failed a few years ago, the Agusta 109 which mnaged an emergency landing as a result a component being installed upside down, the Wessex which lost a main rotor blade on final approach in Nigeria, the Bell 47 which lost a main rotor blade crop spraying in Canada in 1998, the Bell 214 ST which suffered a drag brace failure offshore Aberdeen (I forget the year), the R22 which landed with evere vibration due to a 3 inch crack in the main rotor blade root fitting in 2004, the S76B which lost a one metre section on the inboard portion of one main rotor blade in 2002....... need I go on?