PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - EC225 crash near Bergen, Norway April 2016
Old 29th May 2016, 16:25
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Steve Stubbs
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somerset
Age: 77
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S61 blade loss

S61 blades being metal had an inherent weakness in the early days as a fatigue crack of the spar under the skin was not detectable easily. Having worked out the weakness following blade losses, a cockpit warning of coming problems was developed involving pressurising the blades and detecting pressure loss due to cracks. There was also a physical tell-tale with tester on the blade root itself.

The result was a solution to an identified problem - that worked. I had several BIM warnings during my 4500 hours on the S61, one was real, the rest spurious electrical problems. In flight actions involved increasing the NR to 102% to increase blade rigidity while finding dry land or a platform to set down on.

I never flew the 225 - after my time( but did 3500 hours approx on the AS332L). I worried more about the NF governing system which caused several total losses but which was never fixed during my time on the beast.
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