release of any accident reports
 

To add a bit of clarity and opinion;

Just watch these clowns on nigerian television wearing their airline uniform making comments about the safety of aviation in this lovely country. The context and quality is next to zero. A six year old in grammar school can express itself more adequately. It is embarrassing. A gambit of cover-ups... you are welcome:E

212man, the following is my understanding with regard to the questions you raised over the report.

"Nothing to do with loss of control, as a result of the already failed TR, during the final stages of deceleration on the approach?"

There are clear guidelines in the Flying Manual for the Dauphin in the event of a TR failure. I do not believe that any pilot would operate below the minimum safe speed if they were aware of a TR failure. In my opinion no crew especially one with a combined experience of over 10,000 hrs on type would intentionally attempt a normal landing if the TR had failed.

In this accident two bangs were heard by the survivors. The first bang was heard in the cruise with an accompanied sound of "rushing air" at 135kts and is believed to have been the floats deploying. The second loud bang was over the river and was accompanied by the violent yaw and loss of control.

The fenestron blade technical reort clearly states that at the point blade no.11/13 failed due to the fatigue crack the TR stopped functioning in less than 1 sec. due to the catastrophic damage to the other blades.

Interestingly enough an incident in Norway in 2004 bears all the hallmarks of the accident at Brass. In Norway following an uncommanded inflation of the floats a Dauphin turned back towards base. At 30ft and during the landing phase the TR failed with a complete loss of directional control. There were no symptoms giveing the crew any prior warning before the event. The pilot was able fortunately to lower the collective and the crew suffered only minor injuries as the helicopter impacted the helipad whilst spinning.

"Was any mention made of the option to land at the nearby airstrip?"

No mention is made of the strip nearby although this would only have been an option if the crew knew they had a problem with the tailrotor, allowing them to plan for a run on landing.

"Was the rumour, circulating at the time of, an engine being shutdown substantiated or covered in the report?"

This was a rumour circulating at the time of the accident due to the positions of the levers on the throttle quadrant when the heli was recovered fom the river. After investigation of the engines and throttle quadrant in France engine failure was discounted as they were able to establish that both engines were delivering normal power to the main rotor at the time of impact.

Does anyone know if the report into the Norwegian incident in 2004 has been released yet?
Did the Norwegian Dauphin have the re-designed fenestron blades post the Brass accident?
Was a link established between the uncommanded inflation of the floats and the subsequent TR failure?

RC10