View Full Version : Where'd the tail go?
Robbiee
18th Jun 2019, 19:17
https://youtu.be/E-8qeQTmil8
Rotor George
18th Jun 2019, 19:44
Peter the "Pumpkin eater" will have all the answers.
Lantern10
18th Jun 2019, 21:41
Davy Jones's locker by the look of it.
RINKER
18th Jun 2019, 22:10
Good job by the pilot.
SASless
18th Jun 2019, 22:25
Excellent Airmanship!
gulliBell
18th Jun 2019, 23:11
Pilot and two passengers on board. Tail rotor fell off just after take-off. I've got a hunch the mechanic might be feeling a little nervous about it! I wonder if the passengers get a refund?
https://www.local10.com/news/florida/monroe-county/sightseeing-helicopter-makes-emergency-landing-in-ocean-off-key-west
WillyPete
19th Jun 2019, 16:13
“The back fell off”
FH1100 Pilot
19th Jun 2019, 21:06
“The back fell off”
Nobody...at least no helicopter pilot is going to get that joke without the link to the hilarious video.
Lantern10
19th Jun 2019, 22:13
The funny video refers to the front falling off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM
Cutsnake
20th Jun 2019, 06:15
Ummm I think the mechanic is safe 🧐
I’d be checking the leading edge on the blades 😬
Nubian
20th Jun 2019, 07:19
Hmm.....
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/n1241w/?hl=en
hayes67
20th Jun 2019, 08:27
Great there's been a happy ending for the pilot and the pax, guess somebody else will have some explaining to do, but on a lighter note I've now been enlightened by 'the front end fell off' .... just spend the last 10 mins watching several vids by the same guys!, ta very much and sorry if that high jacked the post!
Hot and Hi
20th Jun 2019, 19:29
Hmm.....
https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/n1241w/?hl=en
Maybe the tail cam came off before the tail came off
Self loading bear
21st Jun 2019, 15:39
Ummm I think the mechanic is safe 🧐
I’d be checking the leading edge on the blades 😬
Nothing wrong with the leading edges.
The whole tailrotor is cutting edge technology!
Cutsnake
21st Jun 2019, 21:38
Nothing wrong with the leading edges.
The whole tailrotor is cutting edge technology!
No
Its a perfect example of a negative G tail boom strike.
Maybe the pilot does believe it just fell off...
gulliBell
22nd Jun 2019, 00:03
The R44 main rotor blades are long enough to hit the tail and take it clean off, really?
No
Its a perfect example of a negative G tail boom strike.
Maybe the pilot does believe it just fell off...
Too far aft and too clean for a tail boom strike.
Cutsnake
22nd Jun 2019, 04:57
Too far aft and too clean for a tail boom strike.
I will eat my humble pie. You are correct!
Flying Bull
22nd Jun 2019, 17:07
No
Its a perfect example of a negative G tail boom strike.
Maybe the pilot does believe it just fell off...
Take a look at the photo. There is still tailboom, where the mainrotor ends.
So no tail boom strike here....
rottenjohn
23rd Jun 2019, 05:29
It will be interesting to find the reason. Gone from the gearbox. Sort of wonder if the tail rotor has struck a bird, drone or something has come from the cabin and taken out a TR blade
gulliBell
23rd Jun 2019, 06:32
More than gone from the gearbox....everything back there has fallen off, except for that bendy thingy that is still attached to the tail boom. The TRGB attaches to the tail boom independently of the vertical/horizontal fins, right? I might wildly imagine one or the other could fall off due improper maintenance, hard to imagine both would fall off.
gulliBell
23rd Jun 2019, 06:48
Found the bits that fell off. Floating on the ocean not far from where the Robinson landed on the ocean. That has tail strike with ocean whilst in flight causing bits to fall off written all over it.
https://youtu.be/S4P7qJDpNP0
aa777888
23rd Jun 2019, 10:18
That doesn't look like tail parts floating. All that stuff would sink right to the bottom.
So far the best guess someone already posted above is a problem with the tail camera that this operation apparently used from time to time.
I will eat my humble pie. You are correct!
A wild guess says that a catastrophic TR failure occurred and the massive imbalance shook the gearbox and tail feathers from the boom.
FH1100 Pilot
23rd Jun 2019, 18:23
From this amateur NTSB sleuth: I don't know anything about R-44's, but my guess would be that the last tail rotor drive shaft coupling (the one that attaches it to the gearbox) came undone. That left the shaft flopping around back there and it sawed the back end off. I've had *two* tail rotor failures in 206's. In both cases couplings came apart. Each time, the unsupported shaft sliced a big hole in what was below it - in this case of the 206, the tailboom. Seems to me that the R-44 t/r driveshaft runs inside the boom?
Robbiee
23rd Jun 2019, 19:40
From this amateur NTSB sleuth: I don't know anything about R-44's, but my guess would be that the last tail rotor drive shaft coupling (the one that attaches it to the gearbox) came undone. That left the shaft flopping around back there and it sawed the back end off. I've had *two* tail rotor failures in 206's. In both cases couplings came apart. Each time, the unsupported shaft sliced a big hole in what was below it - in this case of the 206, the tailboom. Seems to me that the R-44 t/r driveshaft runs inside the boom?
Yes, it runs inside and connects to the gearbox at the end via 4 bolts. In the R22 there is a little window through which you can look to check the torque stripes on said bolts. However, it has been a long time since I have flown a 44, and I've actually forgotten if it has that little window as well?