Originally Posted by
Variable Load
henra - the Cougar accident was a loss of tail rotor drive, a very different failure to this one. Immediate entry into autorotation is the only way to recover from loss of tail rotor drive.
I know. I wanted to point out that the S-92 is probably even more difficult to handle with a problem on the tail rotor than some other types due to relatively small vertical area behind cg.
To draw parallels between this current issue and the Cougar accident is not appropriate.
Agreed, they are technically not directly comparable. But the Cougar accident gave an indication about the criticality of the tail rotor for the S-92 (or any other big Transport Heli. To avoid any suspicions: The 225 or any other of the big Transport Helis won't behave much different they all have massive fuselages and small tails - The only one with a chance of a somewhat more benign behavior might be the Blackhawk). They had to be prepared that something might break, yet they didn't manage to go into Autorotation quickly enough to make it survivable.