Tale of a Dolphin

[molen]

A few weeks ago an EC155 returned from an offshore flight over the North Sea.

When approaching the airfield ATC notified the crew a large part of their tail was missing.

The landing was uneventful.

Has this happened before to any Dauphin ?

[rufus.t.firefly]

Thats a great aircraft that can fly with a major proportion of its tail missing

From what I've heard about it the crew didn't actually know what had happened at the time to the tail , anyone like to confirm this ??

[Choppie]

I also know about a 206L that was flying over Lake Victoria when the vertical stabilizer broke in half folding over (not falling off). Luckily it was to the opposite side of the tailrotor.

[ericferret]

The 365N2 has the same vertical fin fold.

All UK aircraft have been checked and a repetitive inspection is in place.
No faults found!!!!

[cpt]

I once have lost the left part of the tail plane (with its vertical stabilizer) of an AS 365 N2.
I was performing an air test including a vne. I initated acceleration to Vne from 5000' with a 25 / 30 deg. dive.
I didn't notice anything very unusual except a slight unstability in pitch with a marked tendency to pitch down at about 3000' and a much longer recovery trajectory, levelling at about 800'.
Marks on the tail fin indicated a short miss with the tail rotor.
The cause of this structural failure have been found to be a weakness in the root section of the tail plane (made of carbon fiber) maybe due to a former shock on the tail plane.

[TiPwEiGhT]

Lost the starboard side vert fin on the stab on an N1. Didn't notice much to be honest, slight fluctuations in pitch and yaw. 135kt cruise at the time @ FL050.

TiP

[helimutt]

would have expected a photoshopped picture of the EC155 from Capt. Hollywood by now, with complete tail missing and girls in bikinis somewhere. Oh well.

[Barshifter]

Helimutt

Bit like this?

[500e]

Not a patch on the Capt. no Girls

[helimutt]

no nose wheel? would have preferred the girls!

[ericferret]

I think you are supposed to, make the changes digitally not with a pot of typex!!!!!!

[Sikorsky]

Other operators of EC155 have found cracks in the bracket that failed.
One operator found a crack that went 70% through the bracket, thus only 30% holding the fin

[Barshifter]

Just for Helimutt
Final offer(I'l leave it to the experts now)

[Jonasraf]

Regards,
Jonasraf

[Barshifter]

Jonasraf

Excellent!!

[Fun Police]

yes, now this thread is much more interesting