PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Are engine failures always recoverable in helicopters?
Old 11th Sep 2009, 15:31
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atpcliff
 
Join Date: May 2003
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Hi!

It depends, but, basically, with an engine failure, you autorotate to a safe landing area that is into the wind, and everyone walks away with no aircraft damage.

Obviously, there are variables.
Like:
If you are hovering, at, say, 100', then you are probably dead.
If there is an unsafe area, you are probably dead.\
Hovering at 5-20' or so, no problem.
All of the above also depends on the helicopter.
In the Huey, with an engine failure in a 5' hover, you could land safely, pick it back up to a 5' hover, rotate the helo 180 degrees, and then land safely AGAIN. I would guess that would not work in a Robinson R-22.

Landing the helo out of an autorotation is more difficult than landing a cessna-172 with an engine failure (more like a typical landing), but it is definitely do-able, as long as there are no negative factors (see above).

cliff
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