Steve mc stated, “there was a scrape of a tail fairing, 2 feet clear of the enclosed fenestron. Absolutely no danger to anyone on board. Also, it happened, at the maximum, 3 seconds prior to an uneventful landing!”
also
Helimutt says, “the photos are "boring".
I have now seen the photographs and have to make the following observation. With the amount of denting and distortion of this area of the tail section, it would have to have been a very significant ‘knock’.
I state this, because if anyone is fully aware as to the internal method of construction of this area of the tail section, with the numerous ribs, strings, formers and doubler plates within this complex shaped structure, it would have had to have been a substantial clout.
I sincerely hope that neither of the above posters were either directly or for that matter indirectly associated with this incidence, because their comments would indicate that they do not appreciate the significance of the damage and their ‘lightening’ of this matter is grossly worrying.
I witnessed a similar previous incident on a SA365N (before they changed the designation to AS365N) with if anything less visual damage. This had been caused by a ground handling incident. After a full rigging check indicated more distortion than at first appeared, the manufacturer then became involved. Their on-site investigation determined significant internal damage and required the whole tail boom assembly to be removed and returned to the factory for further testing and repair. The investigation also showed creasing towards the main body of the fuselage, where the tail boom assembly is attached. This area also required some significant repairing.
If one considers the length of the tail boom and the physical strength of the tip of this structure, any damage as shown by the photograph, shows that a tremendous lateral load must have been placed on the whole tail boom assembly.
As decufault posted above,
“Looking at the photos..brown pants and very very lucky.. A bit more than just a scrape...”
VB