TV News Helicopter Crash in Brazil with Video
Maybe a browse through the following might be in order for some:
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2003_01.PDF
Dealing with TRFs is another one of those topics that generates inordinate amounts of ill-informed drivel - sadly.
Be under no illusions as to how quickly the transition, from apparent control to loss of control, will occur as you slow down. Torque is increasing exponentially while vertical fin authority decreases exponentially. That's a bad combination!
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2003_01.PDF
Dealing with TRFs is another one of those topics that generates inordinate amounts of ill-informed drivel - sadly.
Be under no illusions as to how quickly the transition, from apparent control to loss of control, will occur as you slow down. Torque is increasing exponentially while vertical fin authority decreases exponentially. That's a bad combination!
Last edited by 212man; 12th Feb 2010 at 16:23.
I don't think what we simulate in training by jamming a pedal is exactly what happens when the tail rotor comes off or stops. The spinning disk will still provide some "keel" or effective fin area. What you do in training is try to impart the correct reaction on the pilots so that they have some idea what to do. Let's face it, in your career as a helicopter pilot you will likely face a loss of tailrotor situation, maybe several times - nothing to die over.
Just like in an auto landing when the blades suddenly lose all lift when the NR gets below that magic number you can get an idea of the same for loss of tail rotor. Fly along at 60-80 knots and slowly push in full pedal (in the direction of the main rotor rotation) to approximate zero thrust. When you are at the stop, start slowing down keeping level. At that magic airspeed the tail finally lets go and starts to whip around in a spin. To finish off the exercise we used to let it spin a couple of times and then chop the throttle and auto to the ground without ever moving the pedal off the stop, but you needed some altitude to get it to work out
Just like in an auto landing when the blades suddenly lose all lift when the NR gets below that magic number you can get an idea of the same for loss of tail rotor. Fly along at 60-80 knots and slowly push in full pedal (in the direction of the main rotor rotation) to approximate zero thrust. When you are at the stop, start slowing down keeping level. At that magic airspeed the tail finally lets go and starts to whip around in a spin. To finish off the exercise we used to let it spin a couple of times and then chop the throttle and auto to the ground without ever moving the pedal off the stop, but you needed some altitude to get it to work out
Sounds like BS to me . I dont think most pilots will have loads of t/r failures . I dont think the "spinning disc " gives any help . I dont think you put in a full boot of pedal to simulate a failure ...and i dont think you keep it in while the heli is spinning . Good story all the same 
Hey , all you newbies out there in your 22,s ....go give it a shot just like he says ...it,ll be fine ..promise 
Hey , all you newbies out there in your 22,s ....go give it a shot just like he says ...it,ll be fine ..promise
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Its easy to make a TR drive fail sound easy to cope with. The reality in my experience of teaching it in the simulator, is that when the (experienced) pilots are fully briefed and expecting it, THE MAJORITY CRASH ON THE FIRST PRACTICE.
Every aircraft behaves differently, depending on tail fin effectiveness etc, but when you bleed the airspeed off just a bit too much, pulling just a bit too much lever, it will suddenly start to spin. In the types I teach, once they are spinning, its a lucky man who gets control back again. If you havent got much altitude, you've got no hope.
I'm with you 212man & nigelh!
Every aircraft behaves differently, depending on tail fin effectiveness etc, but when you bleed the airspeed off just a bit too much, pulling just a bit too much lever, it will suddenly start to spin. In the types I teach, once they are spinning, its a lucky man who gets control back again. If you havent got much altitude, you've got no hope.
I'm with you 212man & nigelh!
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Reading some of the posts here, as well as a my own thoughts on the matter, it seems easy to confuse actions for where tail rotor control is lost or limited, e.g. stuck pedal or broken linkages, with loss of tail rotor.
Two very events with two different sets of actions.
I remember seeing Blackhawk down the first time and naively questioned why the pilots did not pull pitch and fly off to have his accident somewhere more conducive to come out alive.
As much as we discuss course of action here, it would be helpful to discuss identification and detection if the situation is a result or Tail Rotor Failure.
Misdiagnosing, can have fatal consequences.
Gordy, would you mind elaborating on how you setup the scenario in your training?
In the training I have had, the instruction was on stuck pedal scenarios, the loss of tail rotor was all verbal instruction to enter into an auto, don't waste time.
Two very events with two different sets of actions.
I remember seeing Blackhawk down the first time and naively questioned why the pilots did not pull pitch and fly off to have his accident somewhere more conducive to come out alive.
As much as we discuss course of action here, it would be helpful to discuss identification and detection if the situation is a result or Tail Rotor Failure.
Misdiagnosing, can have fatal consequences.
Gordy, would you mind elaborating on how you setup the scenario in your training?
In the training I have had, the instruction was on stuck pedal scenarios, the loss of tail rotor was all verbal instruction to enter into an auto, don't waste time.
Last edited by birrddog; 12th Feb 2010 at 20:51. Reason: corrected mistake pointed out by VeeAny
Birddog
What has LTE got to do with a stuck pedals ?
LTE is an aerodynamic problem.
Tail rotor malfunctions are generally categorised as control problems, drive failure or loss of components (like gearboxes). Each has its own set of problems and none of them are LTE.
Don't mean to sound rude but there is a lot of misunderstanding about all things helicopter related and adding somemore doesn't help, I think the discussion about this accident will hopfully serve to educate everyone of us.
What has LTE got to do with a stuck pedals ?
LTE is an aerodynamic problem.
Tail rotor malfunctions are generally categorised as control problems, drive failure or loss of components (like gearboxes). Each has its own set of problems and none of them are LTE.
Don't mean to sound rude but there is a lot of misunderstanding about all things helicopter related and adding somemore doesn't help, I think the discussion about this accident will hopfully serve to educate everyone of us.
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VeeAny, I guess I am a perfect example of some of the lack of knowledge being written about here, and getting myself confused through poor articulation, and speaking before I think.
The just of my question, between stuck pedal and loss of tail rotor remains though.
Edited to add: At least with the opportunity to be caught with my foot in my mouth on the ground, gives me an opportunity to be corrected so the same does not happen in the air!
The just of my question, between stuck pedal and loss of tail rotor remains though.
Edited to add: At least with the opportunity to be caught with my foot in my mouth on the ground, gives me an opportunity to be corrected so the same does not happen in the air!
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Accepting Veeany's observation, I think you are right birddog to draw attention to the need for a clear understanding of the different TR failure modes. I suggest anyone needs to spend some time thinking about those different modes in whatever type they fly to try and establish the likely symptoms. They can be described in different ways, but do usually boil down to soemthing like:
- Loss of thrust
- Loss of component (plus loss of thrust?)
- stuck pedal (different sorts)
One of the things that I recall is the suggestion that in some TR failures (stuck pedal) you can afford to take your time and experiment, whilst in other cases there may be a very limited time available to sort the thing out (loss of component).
- Loss of thrust
- Loss of component (plus loss of thrust?)
- stuck pedal (different sorts)
One of the things that I recall is the suggestion that in some TR failures (stuck pedal) you can afford to take your time and experiment, whilst in other cases there may be a very limited time available to sort the thing out (loss of component).
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NOTAR
May I ask a complete bystander question please? I have always loved helicopters, both for their fascinating engineering and for way a flying machine can do such extraordinary things. However, as an engineer (non aero) I have always seen the Tail rotor as the weak link and viewed the NOTAR concept as the future for helicopters.
Obviously it only works for turbine helos and, so far, only on small to moderate sized airframes. Is there any reason why large, multi engine helos do not use it and what other disadvantages are there to NOTAR?
Roger.
Obviously it only works for turbine helos and, so far, only on small to moderate sized airframes. Is there any reason why large, multi engine helos do not use it and what other disadvantages are there to NOTAR?
Roger.
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From what you have said " it only works on turbines" I think you may be under the misconception that a NOTAR is driven by exhaust gas - it isnt and would work with any engine type (in theory) , as basically it is ashrouded fan driven just like any tail rotor , from the main gearbox . it does have a tail rotor of sorts, 
its just hidden in the tail boom , it also use the vertical fins as rudders in fwd flight and coanda effect in the hover from slits along the tail boom , it also has a rotating bucket at the end of the tailboom to direct air from the boom for direction control in the hover.
They also make a twin , the MD900 or 902
its just hidden in the tail boom , it also use the vertical fins as rudders in fwd flight and coanda effect in the hover from slits along the tail boom , it also has a rotating bucket at the end of the tailboom to direct air from the boom for direction control in the hover.They also make a twin , the MD900 or 902
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Hover Bovver
From what you have said " it only works on turbines" I think you may be under the misconception that a NOTAR is driven by exhaust gas ..........
I had thought it utilised turbine exhaust and the elegance of such a solution always appealed. I take it then, that unlike a 'straight through turbojet' or even a fan jet, where a lot of energy is taken out of core engine ehaust to drive the fan, that helo turbine waste gas is too 'soft' to provide torque counter reaction?I was aware that there were other elements to NOTAR - even the 'laminar flow' effect around the tube - but not to the extent you suggest. Does this mean that for all its external simplicity, NOTAR is complicated internally and thus provides less of the benefit I imagined? As I mentioned, the engineer in me always regarded the TR as a temporary fix to an inevitable problem and a terribly fragile one at that. Sadly, Youtube is full of very distressing images of perfectly servicable helicopters, changing suddenly into terrifying, uncontrollable collections of large masses trying to resolve implacable forces.
The concept of a counter to torque reaction that would 'fail safe' - in that it can only fail if the engine/s stop, in which case the need for it is reduced (okay, I'm going to get jumped on for that
) - is a highly desirable one. I had thought NOTAR was it. 
Roger.
Landroger:
Landroger, the problem is that most of the helo turbine "waste" gas already goes to driving a fan- a big fan- the one on top of the helicopter (or, in the case of an airplane, the propellor). That's how turboshaft engines work.
The NOTAR is *no* less complicated than a conventional tail rotor, and maybe even more so since, if I'm not mistaken, the pedals have to not only control the bucket at the end of the tailboom but at least one of the vertical fins as well in some models. I believe at least one NOTAR ship has already been lost to a failure of this cable system.
The NOTAR is quieter than a conventional tail rotor, and "safer" in that there is no fragile, vertical prop out back that can run into things (and have people run into it).
I take it then, that unlike a 'straight through turbojet' or even a fan jet, where a lot of energy is taken out of core engine ehaust to drive the fan, that helo turbine waste gas is too 'soft' to provide torque counter reaction?
I was aware that there were other elements to NOTAR - even the 'laminar flow' effect around the tube - but not to the extent you suggest. Does this mean that for all its external simplicity, NOTAR is complicated internally and thus provides less of the benefit I imagined?
The NOTAR is quieter than a conventional tail rotor, and "safer" in that there is no fragile, vertical prop out back that can run into things (and have people run into it).
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Roger,
the Kamov and the Chinook are other types of 'tail-rotorless' helicopter, with counter-rotating main rotors.....also the fenestron or shrouded type tail rotor that doesn't do alot with regards to anti-torque at higher forward aircraft speeds.
the Kamov and the Chinook are other types of 'tail-rotorless' helicopter, with counter-rotating main rotors.....also the fenestron or shrouded type tail rotor that doesn't do alot with regards to anti-torque at higher forward aircraft speeds.
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Malabo - caution...
Malabo said: "............. To finish off the exercise we used to let it spin a couple of times and then chop the throttle and auto to the ground without ever moving the pedal off the stop, but you needed some altitude to get it to work out"
Maybe that proceedure should be checked.... ? Putting the lever down ia enough to stop the spin and enter autorotation - closing the throttle is a bit brutal and jeorardises RRPM . I guess you were thinking in terms of closing the throttle and lowering the lever shortly thereafter - but there is a huge danger - which I have seen often - that the throttle gets closed to eliminate the torque but the RRPM is left to decay - leading to a very heavy landing (maybe a hint of that in this accident) . !Caution!
Maybe that proceedure should be checked.... ? Putting the lever down ia enough to stop the spin and enter autorotation - closing the throttle is a bit brutal and jeorardises RRPM . I guess you were thinking in terms of closing the throttle and lowering the lever shortly thereafter - but there is a huge danger - which I have seen often - that the throttle gets closed to eliminate the torque but the RRPM is left to decay - leading to a very heavy landing (maybe a hint of that in this accident) . !Caution!
AnFI,
Correct, the collective has to be lowered very soon after the throttle chop. Throttle chop stops the yaw very quickly, lowering the collective not so quick. This is experienced advanced instructor technique using something with blade inertia better than an R22, so not something you'd expect at a Florida pilot sausage factory.
The point (and my original point) was that the thread was erroneously drifting into stuck pedal or fixed-pitch training techniques. This incident was a loss of tailrotor thrust requiring different training techniques to prepare the pilot. Pretty sad to see that neither fixed-pitch nor loss of tailrotor thrust is widely taught in the rest of the world.
Maybe just a Canadian thing because of all the confined area work here risking a tailrotor strike, or flying external loads with the risk of something coming up and taking the tailrotor out.
Some poster said any tailrotor problem was unlikely in a career. Flying only from the middle of a runway, and no exteral loads, I'd say the risk is much lower but still there as witnessed by the incident in this thread.
Correct, the collective has to be lowered very soon after the throttle chop. Throttle chop stops the yaw very quickly, lowering the collective not so quick. This is experienced advanced instructor technique using something with blade inertia better than an R22, so not something you'd expect at a Florida pilot sausage factory.
The point (and my original point) was that the thread was erroneously drifting into stuck pedal or fixed-pitch training techniques. This incident was a loss of tailrotor thrust requiring different training techniques to prepare the pilot. Pretty sad to see that neither fixed-pitch nor loss of tailrotor thrust is widely taught in the rest of the world.
Maybe just a Canadian thing because of all the confined area work here risking a tailrotor strike, or flying external loads with the risk of something coming up and taking the tailrotor out.
Some poster said any tailrotor problem was unlikely in a career. Flying only from the middle of a runway, and no exteral loads, I'd say the risk is much lower but still there as witnessed by the incident in this thread.
Some poster said any tailrotor problem was unlikely in a career. Flying only from the middle of a runway, and no exteral loads, I'd say the risk is much lower but still there as witnessed by the incident in this thread.
Anyone who thinks it's a benign event to deal with is a fool who had no place flying pax in a helicopter!
My only experience with a tail rotor failure was as a passenger riding in the left front seat of a UH-1D Huey on a Battalion Admin flight to Saigon Hotel 3 helipad at Tan So Nhut AFB. I was merely hitching a ride for a short business trip to Saigon ( I am not at liberty to discuss what kind of business).
At the time I was a Chinook pilot assigned to the Battalion and had been qualified in the Huey during Flight School leading to my being dubbed an Army Helicopter Pilot.
We departed our base, bled just a bit of MR rpm but no problems, flew five miles to a second base.....picked up some fuel and a couple of SLF....and bled a bit of RPM on takeoff....still no problem. One might consider the earlier D Model Hueys were not known to be power houses with rotors...and as they aged and became assigned to duties such as the Battalion Log bird....they had some wear and tear on them. It was not unusual in operations to fly them down to just above LTE which was around 5800-6000 RPM N2. They had both a Low RPM warning light and a warning audio to warn the pilot. The light came on first....then at a lower RPM the Audio sounded.
We flew to Saigon....about twenty minutes away....and our stalwart pilot whose main duty was being the Battalion Mess Officer due to his piloting abilities falling a bit short of that required for use in operations....made his steep approach to a hover at the landing pad. Mind you the landing site was fairly confined on the surface but had no real obstacles demanding anything but a normal landing. Needless to say....operational pilots always landed to the ground when presented with a limited power landing to a nice flat concrete surface.
My Hero did not.
He stopped at a hover and several things happened at once....the first being me thinking "What is this guy doing?" I immediately thought he was confused as to where to park....and I began to point towards the transient parking to our left.
He turned right.
Wondering if he knew something I didn't....I suggested over the intercom the parking was now behind us. He kept turning right....and I figured he was just going to go the long way around and hover over to the parking pad. He didn't stop turning. All this was at or below standard rate of turn for such maneuvering.
I thought he saw a parking spot to the right of the aircraft.....he had not.
About this time....I noticed the left pedal was extended all the way forward and he appeared to be a bit tense looking and seemed a bit lost for something to say. The rate of turn began to build...and we passed by the parking pad direction at a fair old clip. I told him to cut the throttle as it plainly appeared to me that was the only cure for the situation extant.
He did not.
While looking at him...I noticed a bright red light on the panel....where the Main Rotor RPM light was on at about 1000 watts....a sly glance at the Rotor Tach confirmed the warning light was doing it's thing....we were at about 5700 RPM instead of the 6600 that was normal (N2 RPM).
Ah...I thought....this is not as it should be.
Not being astronaut material it still seemed I was correct in my advice....and again told him to chop the throttle....which he did not do....but now was eyes fixed firmly straight out front of the helicopter looking at the world revolve around him like his name was Sol.
Sol is not the name I would have called him as he definitely was not the brightest thing in the Sky.
We passed....or the parking pad passed us....depending upon how you wished to look at...but this time the rate of rotation was such that my aviator Raybans felt like they were going depart for foreign shores and I was rapidly increasing in weight. The world was becoming a blur!
I chopped the throttle....probably I could have told the Mess Officer about it ahead of time but I felt he might just figure it out for himself and if he didn't nothing worse could happen than was already coming our way.
He didn't figure it out on his own....but good Army training never fails one in time of need.
Magically, the rate of rotation steadied, slowed, and we found old Mother Earth and the H-3 landing pad. We slewed to a stop, made an instant low-low skid mod on one side. When I got my legs to quit wobbling...I thanked the Mess Officer for the great ride....un-plugged my Helmet....grabbed my Ditty Bag and departed for Saigon leaving the Mess Officer to deal with the Army since I was only a passenger on the flight.
Long story....but even though it was only a loss of Rotor RPM....and thus loss of Tail Rotor Thrust aggravated by trying to hover when over weight for the power of the aircraft....the forces that can be generated are hard to imagine. As the size of the aircraft grows so do the magnitude of forces. If one adds in the loss of tail rotor components and the resulting CG shift and aerodynamic forces....these events can very well be catastrophic.
Simulators can approximate some of the effects but not duplicate them....in flight practice cannot. Stuck pedal or loss of thrust maybe....but not loss of components.
I think the key is to use the Sim and Flight training to describe as best possible the initial reactions of the aircraft to educate the pilot for what to be able to react to when it happens.
To steal a motto...."Who dares....wins!" Very timely reaction to a tail rotor failure will help mitigate the situation but that requires being able to assess what is going on and then reacting properly. As Torque is the problem....reducing Torque is the best way to start. Lowering the collective all the way to the very bottom if possible is step one in the process followed by the Engine(s) next. (In my opinion.) After that I guess one plays the cards dealt to you.
At the time I was a Chinook pilot assigned to the Battalion and had been qualified in the Huey during Flight School leading to my being dubbed an Army Helicopter Pilot.
We departed our base, bled just a bit of MR rpm but no problems, flew five miles to a second base.....picked up some fuel and a couple of SLF....and bled a bit of RPM on takeoff....still no problem. One might consider the earlier D Model Hueys were not known to be power houses with rotors...and as they aged and became assigned to duties such as the Battalion Log bird....they had some wear and tear on them. It was not unusual in operations to fly them down to just above LTE which was around 5800-6000 RPM N2. They had both a Low RPM warning light and a warning audio to warn the pilot. The light came on first....then at a lower RPM the Audio sounded.
We flew to Saigon....about twenty minutes away....and our stalwart pilot whose main duty was being the Battalion Mess Officer due to his piloting abilities falling a bit short of that required for use in operations....made his steep approach to a hover at the landing pad. Mind you the landing site was fairly confined on the surface but had no real obstacles demanding anything but a normal landing. Needless to say....operational pilots always landed to the ground when presented with a limited power landing to a nice flat concrete surface.
My Hero did not.
He stopped at a hover and several things happened at once....the first being me thinking "What is this guy doing?" I immediately thought he was confused as to where to park....and I began to point towards the transient parking to our left.
He turned right.
Wondering if he knew something I didn't....I suggested over the intercom the parking was now behind us. He kept turning right....and I figured he was just going to go the long way around and hover over to the parking pad. He didn't stop turning. All this was at or below standard rate of turn for such maneuvering.
I thought he saw a parking spot to the right of the aircraft.....he had not.
About this time....I noticed the left pedal was extended all the way forward and he appeared to be a bit tense looking and seemed a bit lost for something to say. The rate of turn began to build...and we passed by the parking pad direction at a fair old clip. I told him to cut the throttle as it plainly appeared to me that was the only cure for the situation extant.
He did not.
While looking at him...I noticed a bright red light on the panel....where the Main Rotor RPM light was on at about 1000 watts....a sly glance at the Rotor Tach confirmed the warning light was doing it's thing....we were at about 5700 RPM instead of the 6600 that was normal (N2 RPM).
Ah...I thought....this is not as it should be.
Not being astronaut material it still seemed I was correct in my advice....and again told him to chop the throttle....which he did not do....but now was eyes fixed firmly straight out front of the helicopter looking at the world revolve around him like his name was Sol.
Sol is not the name I would have called him as he definitely was not the brightest thing in the Sky.
We passed....or the parking pad passed us....depending upon how you wished to look at...but this time the rate of rotation was such that my aviator Raybans felt like they were going depart for foreign shores and I was rapidly increasing in weight. The world was becoming a blur!
I chopped the throttle....probably I could have told the Mess Officer about it ahead of time but I felt he might just figure it out for himself and if he didn't nothing worse could happen than was already coming our way.
He didn't figure it out on his own....but good Army training never fails one in time of need.
Magically, the rate of rotation steadied, slowed, and we found old Mother Earth and the H-3 landing pad. We slewed to a stop, made an instant low-low skid mod on one side. When I got my legs to quit wobbling...I thanked the Mess Officer for the great ride....un-plugged my Helmet....grabbed my Ditty Bag and departed for Saigon leaving the Mess Officer to deal with the Army since I was only a passenger on the flight.
Long story....but even though it was only a loss of Rotor RPM....and thus loss of Tail Rotor Thrust aggravated by trying to hover when over weight for the power of the aircraft....the forces that can be generated are hard to imagine. As the size of the aircraft grows so do the magnitude of forces. If one adds in the loss of tail rotor components and the resulting CG shift and aerodynamic forces....these events can very well be catastrophic.
Simulators can approximate some of the effects but not duplicate them....in flight practice cannot. Stuck pedal or loss of thrust maybe....but not loss of components.
I think the key is to use the Sim and Flight training to describe as best possible the initial reactions of the aircraft to educate the pilot for what to be able to react to when it happens.
To steal a motto...."Who dares....wins!" Very timely reaction to a tail rotor failure will help mitigate the situation but that requires being able to assess what is going on and then reacting properly. As Torque is the problem....reducing Torque is the best way to start. Lowering the collective all the way to the very bottom if possible is step one in the process followed by the Engine(s) next. (In my opinion.) After that I guess one plays the cards dealt to you.
Maybe someone can learn from my experience back in 2001---I may have posted this already on another thread....I no longer work for this company and have since recieved training.
I had a stuck pedal in a B2 Astar on a tour with six passengers on board. I first realized the problem coming out of an out of ground effect hover. To this day I still get confused as to whether you call it stuck left or right---basically I had about an inch and a half of left forward pedal, and was not able to push right pedal. I had the non power pedal forward. Ultimately we found the flexible ball control cable had frayed inside the plastic sheath. So as I pushed left pedal, the cable would slide freely inside the sheath, when I pushed right --- the frayed cable dug into the sheath and would not slide. Biggest thing to remember—FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
I elected to fly back to the nearest airport with crash rescue facilities----not pessimistic, just stacking the odds in my favor, plus it gave me 30 minutes of transit time to figure it out in my head. Unfortunately for me---I used to switch between a 206 and an Astar frequently---the previous flight less than an hour prior to this was in the Bell---hence I do not like to say stuck left/right but try to think of it as power and non power pedal. Also, the company I worked for did NOT provide factory training, I had never done this procedure in the aircraft---read about it once--- and in fact my annual Astar training consisted of 30 minutes flying with the owner, who flew on average about 30 hours a year. (Welcome to Hawaii !---although to be fair---there are some decent operators out there). I told my passengers everything, (was later chastised by the owner---should have kept my mouth shut---I no longer fly in Hawaii ! !), I felt they were entitled to know what was going on.
For better or worse, I elected to attempt a shallow approach to a run on landing. I had enough fuel for about an hour, so I was in no rush. The wind sock was spinning on the pole, so therefore no wind. I picked the longest runway---as the speed approached about 20 kts, the aircraft started slowly spinning left, and I did a go around without pulling power till I got some more airspeed and chose a different runway.
This attempt, same thing, another go around---did not pull power till I got some speed. I was starting to think that if this next attempt did not work---I would cut the engine and do an auto.
This time the aircraft started spinning faster, my gut reaction was to go around, but I started pulling power----WRONG, this increased the spin violently, instinct, gut reaction, luck and the voice in my head said CUT POWER----which I half did. I got the FFCL out of the flight gate and about half way back to idle, the earth had stop spinning and I was about 10 feet up, drifting slowly forward and descending slowly, with 3 fire trucks about 100 feet in front of me. I let the aircraft settle to the ground, shut it down, and realized that adrenalin is really brown!!!!!!!
I personally was not happy the way it turned out---I felt I should have nailed it on the first attempt, I should NOT have let the aircraft spin, but I am somewhat of a perfectionist, and I need to live with that. That being said, No damage to the aircraft, one passenger had passed out and was given medical attention on scene, the rest were all fine, I spilled my coffee on the runway and had to beg a soda from one of the firefighters!!!!
What did I learn?
1. FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
2. As stated above do not refer to this as stuck left/right, it gets too confusing when switching aircraft types.
3. Take your time; make as many approaches as needed.
4. No matter what anyone says—there is no text book way to do it.
5. I did not do the “text book” procedure—but it worked.
6. If you all walk away from it---you did good, learn and move on.
One more side note; The company did not initially refund the passengers their money until a few months later one of them asked for a copy of the NTSB report we filed as it came under NTSB 830.5 (a) (1) ----guess what---company did not file one, make sure one gets filed---you could be liable if not.
I had a stuck pedal in a B2 Astar on a tour with six passengers on board. I first realized the problem coming out of an out of ground effect hover. To this day I still get confused as to whether you call it stuck left or right---basically I had about an inch and a half of left forward pedal, and was not able to push right pedal. I had the non power pedal forward. Ultimately we found the flexible ball control cable had frayed inside the plastic sheath. So as I pushed left pedal, the cable would slide freely inside the sheath, when I pushed right --- the frayed cable dug into the sheath and would not slide. Biggest thing to remember—FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
I elected to fly back to the nearest airport with crash rescue facilities----not pessimistic, just stacking the odds in my favor, plus it gave me 30 minutes of transit time to figure it out in my head. Unfortunately for me---I used to switch between a 206 and an Astar frequently---the previous flight less than an hour prior to this was in the Bell---hence I do not like to say stuck left/right but try to think of it as power and non power pedal. Also, the company I worked for did NOT provide factory training, I had never done this procedure in the aircraft---read about it once--- and in fact my annual Astar training consisted of 30 minutes flying with the owner, who flew on average about 30 hours a year. (Welcome to Hawaii !---although to be fair---there are some decent operators out there). I told my passengers everything, (was later chastised by the owner---should have kept my mouth shut---I no longer fly in Hawaii ! !), I felt they were entitled to know what was going on.
For better or worse, I elected to attempt a shallow approach to a run on landing. I had enough fuel for about an hour, so I was in no rush. The wind sock was spinning on the pole, so therefore no wind. I picked the longest runway---as the speed approached about 20 kts, the aircraft started slowly spinning left, and I did a go around without pulling power till I got some more airspeed and chose a different runway.
This attempt, same thing, another go around---did not pull power till I got some speed. I was starting to think that if this next attempt did not work---I would cut the engine and do an auto.
This time the aircraft started spinning faster, my gut reaction was to go around, but I started pulling power----WRONG, this increased the spin violently, instinct, gut reaction, luck and the voice in my head said CUT POWER----which I half did. I got the FFCL out of the flight gate and about half way back to idle, the earth had stop spinning and I was about 10 feet up, drifting slowly forward and descending slowly, with 3 fire trucks about 100 feet in front of me. I let the aircraft settle to the ground, shut it down, and realized that adrenalin is really brown!!!!!!!
I personally was not happy the way it turned out---I felt I should have nailed it on the first attempt, I should NOT have let the aircraft spin, but I am somewhat of a perfectionist, and I need to live with that. That being said, No damage to the aircraft, one passenger had passed out and was given medical attention on scene, the rest were all fine, I spilled my coffee on the runway and had to beg a soda from one of the firefighters!!!!
What did I learn?
1. FLY THE AIRCRAFT.
2. As stated above do not refer to this as stuck left/right, it gets too confusing when switching aircraft types.
3. Take your time; make as many approaches as needed.
4. No matter what anyone says—there is no text book way to do it.
5. I did not do the “text book” procedure—but it worked.
6. If you all walk away from it---you did good, learn and move on.
One more side note; The company did not initially refund the passengers their money until a few months later one of them asked for a copy of the NTSB report we filed as it came under NTSB 830.5 (a) (1) ----guess what---company did not file one, make sure one gets filed---you could be liable if not.