OvertHawk wrote: There have been several instances of PPL's with comparatively few hours in total and very few hours on the Gaz coming a cropper - particularly with yaw/fenestron related issues.
Yes, one recalls the event involving Jonathan Bunn (son of Douglas Bunn .. he of Hickstead Showground renown and former owner of G-AYTF and G-JUMP, both Bell 206's) in September 2001 flying G-BXZE.
An excerpt from the
Accident Report reads:
The helicopter was lifting off from the western side of the International Arena at the Hickstead Showground for a flight to Selsey. The pilot reported that the wind was calm and he lifted to ahover about 6 to 8 feet above the ground. He began a left pedal turn to position the helicopter fortransition over the open arena area to the east.
As the turn approached 180° from the initial heading,the pilot felt that he was unable to stop the helicopter turning left. The rate of turn began to increaserapidly.After some 10 to 12 rotations, the pilot elected to land the helicopter immediately while still turningrapidly to the left.
On touchdown, the right skid broke and damage was sustained during therotational deceleration. The helicopter came to rest upright and the pilot shut down the enginebefore vacating the helicopter through the door on the right side, which had come open during thelanding sequence.
The pilot reported that a witness on the ground had heard a 'bang' and a grinding sound when thehelicopter was commencing its spot turn to the left.
Subsequent engineering inspection by the maintenance organisation found that the tail rotortransmission was still connected. The fenestron fairing was buckled and there was evidence that thetail rotor blades had contacted the inside of the fairing while rotating at operating speeds, but thisprobably occurred during the ground contact. No tail rotor blade failures were noted. There werealso indications that a main rotor blade had made contact with the corner of the right side door. The engineer assessed that there was no mechanical failure noted that could have accounted for theaccident.