AS350 - Ground Resonance [video]
 

22/02/2012




:eek:

Jeesh! For some reason it reminds me of that spoof video of the Australian politician and the oil tanker that the front fell off.

Another couple of grams on the red blade should fix that.

Several very lucky, very foolish numpties running around under the blades while that was going on.

By the time those 'foolish numpties' got there to see if anybody was hurt it was all over.

looks like pretty level ground. bad springs or oleos?

Or a firm landing and which begs the question (if he was at flight idle) why the heck he didn't pull into the hover!

As with the New Zealand crash the driver seems to have been thrown about a bit and, as ever, the Eurocopter cabin stands-up to the trauma with amazing resilience - not!

Sobering to say the least!!! :eek:

I think before he even realised what was going on, it was all over. What a result. :eek:

The rush of adrenalin must have kept him wide awake for a long time.

And a pilot sitting there like a stunned mullet.

Yes, if he was on drugs perhaps!

In the video (which begins with the onset of GR underway) there are a good 8 seconds (maybe more) before the resonance reaches catastrophic (ie. unrecoverable) proportions. The moment a driver feels any abnormal vibrations (especially of an escalatory nature) instant/immediate action must be taken. That's what you are trained to do!

TRC put it well.

By contrast .. in the clip below (which has done the rounds on PPRuNe I know) the onset occurs at 40 seconds. By 42 seconds the driver has the bird off the ground (probably delayed by the fact that he may have been considering the open door).

I ask because I dont know , but what would be the next step when landed and everything gone quiet, would the airframe and such, need to be thoroughly examined with measurments and joints checked,?

Peter R-B

Who's the Dumbass that did not latch the door upon exiting?

It was an actor, would we expect otherwise?

As Savoia said, the video starts after the resonance started. There seems to be plenty of Nr so it seems to be at or near t/o RPM.

It's the lack of either lift-off, or throttle chop and rotor brake (but too high an Nr for that probably) that prompted me to suggest the pilot just sat there and watched while his world - and job I expect - disintegrated around him.

I have witnessed an Al II get into resonance and the pilot lifted off immediately as did the Gaz in the video. Maybe the 350 pilot hadn't been trained to recognise what was happening, or what to do about it.

What would you expect to find in the report that would exonerate the pilot? Lack of training I suppose.

Precisely. He did nothing and which inaction appears to be corroborated by the video footage.

Correct. The throttle chop may have brought things back into balance but, to be effective, would need to be followed by rapid deceleration of the MRB's and which would have meant waiting until Nr came into range before one could apply the brake. Hence the take-off option.

Highly probable that this statement will also turn out to be correct.

I'm sorry, I didn't reply to Eddie's comments:

No I am not sure at all but .. the Nr does (as TRC said) appear to be nearer to flight RPM.

Yes it can but, if I remember correctly, the moment the vehicle is taken out of contact with the ground and suspended by the disk, the 'new' loading on the blades combined with the normal dynamic of centrifugal force eliminates the dissymmetry.

If he opted for chopping the throttle then, if it were me personally, I would probably introduce pitch (as a form of braking) until I could use the brake. But .. one needs to know what one is doing. Collective braking can introduce its own risks and one needs to be familiar with the sensitivities peculiar to each type in this area.

To me, there is very little videographic evidence to suggest that pitch was introduced. His 'turning' may well be due to the fact that he is starting to be bouned around in his seat. Conjecture I admit. The yaw does however saying something about the Nr.

Does it sound like the OP video was increasing NR?

The answer is simple: when it (ground resonance) starts, stop what you're doing.
If you're running up, NR from ground to flight idle, go back to flight idle (I'd probably shut down...).
If you've just landed and/or are still at flight NR, takeoff. It will fly with the doors open. Getting the helo off the ground with people under the disk is safer than letting the aircraft dynamically disassemble itself overhead/around them.

I've seen guys try to "land through it", especially tempting in a multi with overhead engine condition levers to complicate an eventual hovering auto. That didn't work. I've seen guys try to run up, hoping "it" would stop with a change in NR. Ditto. I know a guy who tried to complete a crosswind running landing with a student, only to end up in a pile of parts.

I'm probably preaching to the choir, but my recollection is that it's clearly a bad thing occurring when "dynamic divergent excitation" commences and one has to react quickly before it's fully developed and destroys the helo- something like 3 turns of he NR? I've been told that the AS350 could do this in flight...

Its pitty that we are missing the first bit, it would be interesting to see the whole sequence.

Personally, I'd apply a slight amount of rotor brake even if the rotor RPM was well outside the limits for the brake.
Anything to get the blades / fuselage to behave.

As I understand it ground resonance is a temporary imbalance in the rotor system caused by external forces. But let's say something actually structural did depart the rotable components, a tip fairing or a blade damper or something, then I assume no amount of lifting off recovery is going to save you. Right?