Customs Helicopter
 

I heard thriugh the grape vine that around late last year the Customs B206 L4 heli had a rather heavy landing due to a MR tie down wraping its' self around the T/R. Extensive damage however no one hurt.
Can any one confirm this one ?

state your business, and I'll fill you in...

Just curious, no malice intended

:ok: i heard that no one was injured but the machine was taken by barge to cairns to be repaired......:hmm: hope that helps

Now I know you guys fly upside down in Oz....being at the opposite end of the Earth....but it sounds a bit odd that the blade tie down gets into the Tail Rotor in flight and causes a "hard" landing. Could we know a bit more about how that happened please? From whence did the tie down spring so as to find its way into the whirly bits at the end of the aircraft?

Isn't the tie down normally kept in the baggage compartment?? :hmm:

Not around here mate, kept under under the trousers, if the lever ain't controlled, the other blokes get jealous.

I remember a similar incident some years ago with a 212 (I wasn't flying it, honest !!).

Taking off from a football field the single pilot had forgotten the tie down and left it on the grass. As he pulled power it blew up and wrapped itself around the mast, having made a nasty gash along the tail boom. Very messy and embarrassing !!

NEO.

once saw an examiner and student get into a robbie and try and start it up with the tie-down still wrapped round the tail boom.

I have never seen a blade bend like that (several times as they kept trying to start it).

looking back the funny thing was I was waving like an idiot trying to get them to stop ad they were waving me away.:oh:

The tie down was in the boot it found a gap and eventually fell out far enough to grab the rotor, almost ripped it off.
Aircraft went down without any major damage but it wasnt barged to Cairns they slung it out with the 412 with minimum fuel.
Took 4 fuel stops with 44 gal drums droped on the beach to get them both home.