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Old 12th Aug 2008, 16:59
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ReverseFlight
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Yellow Brick Road
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I have seen a lot of crash videos but must admit this is the first time I have seen this one. It is sickening to watch but interesting in terms of learning a few things.

I don't know what the official report said but IMO the pilot did not put in right pedal intentionally. He could have been overweight and/or attempting to come to a hover downwind (note he transitions off in the opposite direction ?), either of which would have demanded greater power requirements. This may have prompted the pilot to raise collective, droop MR rpm and induce LTE in the high DA. Or maybe he just did a spot turn the wrong way (yawing to the right).

His corrective action was correct, in that he tried to halt the spin with left pedal - the chopper stopped yawing to the right for a short period while he tried to transition into wind to weathercock the tail back to where it belongs (note he even had more airspeed and height than the Spanish one). This is when the chopper disappears momentarily off the right hand side of the screen.

The horror sets in when it doesn't work (possibly due to high DA) and you can hear the engine slowing down as he tried to maintain altitude with collective, possibly overpitching the main blades. The chopper starts yawing to the right again with LTE to the inevitable crash.

I have conducted extensive research into the LTE phenomenon and spoken to many instructors about how to save these situations like milking the collective and transitioning in the direction of the yaw but at the end of the day these are all theories. This video proves how quickly things can go wrong even if you are doing all the right things.

The video does not show the liftoff but in my experience once the right yaw begins to take off on a mind of its own, don't attempt to fly away. Roll off throttle while you are still have HIGE and do your best to cushion the touchdown with collective. You may spread the skids but at least the landing is more than survivable.
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