PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - R66 crash in Wikieup, Arizona, U.S.A., kills 2
Old 14th Jul 2016, 23:28
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Jelico
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: New Zealand
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Quote:
In an event like that, is the correct response to load the head using collective before using cyclic to maneuver/roll? Never flown a Robinson, so I have no idea.
Incorrect. That reaction could kill you in a 2 blade system, especially the Robinson products. It seems a lot of people forget that the low G is not what kills you in this situation, its the fuselage rolling independently, underneath an unloaded rotor disc. In my opinion prevention is far better than the cure - i.e. slow down in turb, and or try not to fly too light in bumpy weather. But should you encounter a low G roll, pulling on the collective to load the disc will only make the roll and ensuing mast bump happen quicker and more violently. There are a lot of schools of thought on the best recovery method, but lowering the collective and REDUCING TORQUE which is causing the tail rotor to flip you is generally thought of as part of the correct recovery. In my opinion, loading the disc with aft cyclic and lowering the collective along with a bit of right pedal (think quick stop) is the best recovery technique as it does everything you can do to fix the issues at hand, and also slows you down to a safer airspeed.

In saying all that, I have experienced a roll in an R22 once (out of approx 400+ hrs Robinson time, mostly 44 but sprinkled with 22 and 66 time). It happened so quick that i was at 50-60 degrees before I could think about responding. Luckily my hand stayed still and did not correct the roll and we sort of swung out of it. From that point I decided that I probably dont have quick enough reactions to fix the problem after the roll, so decided that I would just slow down and/or not fly on really windy days in the Robbies.
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