One unbelievable Helo revovery

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 18 May 2007, 23:57

one time when it didn't go all the way bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3idQKi5 ... ed&search=

bet that dude went to the showers to clean himself ,straightaway
:k:

jonesey2k · Post by **jonesey2k** » 19 May 2007, 00:06

That could have been very nasty indeed!

Post by **Garry Russell** » 19 May 2007, 00:40

The guy in the corner was lucky.....there was just nowhere to run.

Garry

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 19 May 2007, 04:16

I should think I would find myself in the same position , not only for protection
But to pray â€¦. help

:tuttut: There are no atheist in foxholes
source uncertain

ya got to hand it to the pilot. I would imagine there was quite a big bang and a hard thump felt it the cockpit.
I wonder what the hangup was in the first place.
the pilot did seam to take off prematurly :sad:

the ship did seam to pitch forward ... maybe that and a tailwind set it ariborn

cstorey · Post by **cstorey** » 19 May 2007, 09:23

It looks like tail rotor failure - if you look carefully it is hardly turning at all. Nasty

Post by **Garry Russell** » 19 May 2007, 09:53

As the Helo is thrown forward it strikes the tail rotor disabling it.

I suppose all the pilot could do was reduce power and fortunately it came back down in the right place and hooked the net.

Garry

kit · Post by **kit** » 19 May 2007, 09:56

And at the end, when the main rotor is winding down, the tail rotor is stopped totally.

And it looks pretty bent too, but at one stage it seems to hit the deck as well, so it's a 'chicken and egg' situation. Superb flying by the pilot putting it back on the net though, most impressive.

migeater0 · Post by **migeater0** » 19 May 2007, 12:11

I think one of the guys inadvertently left a tie down still attached, he went into rectify and the pilot applied collective. Tail rotor drive shaft would have snapped when the TR hit the deck IMO. That would explain control, then not!

Nigel H-J · Post by **Nigel H-J** » 19 May 2007, 15:28

Looking at that video a couple of times I do believe that migeater is right.

The guy on the right is seen to signal to the 2nd male who was out of camera view and pointed towards the rear right hand side of the helicopter, the 2nd male then went to the back of the helicopter. I would imagine that the pilot probably mis-read the signal from the first guy and on seeing him move away he then applied power, it would be very unlikely that he would have seen the guy behind or may even not have known he was there as his attention could have been diverted into the cockpit and believed wrongly that he was clear for take-off.

On taking-off the helicopter was snatched back by the restraining tie forcing the rear rotor down onto the deck and damaging it.

Very very lucky that did not turn into a fatality.

airboatr · Post by **airboatr** » 19 May 2007, 16:40

I agree Nigel , migeater has it right I also think a tie dowm was the problem or the net itself, and when the ships bow pitched the down , rolling with the waves the stern of the ship seams goes up to flip the helo up off the deck and foward...
or perhaps with the ship pitching forward (down) it could have put the roter at an angle where it created enough lift ...?
but, something else I noiticed.
the incrediable (very crediable accually) strenght of the
landing skids
watch how the tubing of the skid wobbles under the load like a wet noodle (please ,,, no wet noodle jokes)
When the helo starts to pitch up so he didn't run the main rotor into the ship (which is when the tail smacked the net and deck
and then again when it first settles to the deck after he spun and dumped the helo back onto the deck

all in all , very very lucky for all involved
like I said... One time when it didn;t go all the way bad
but for a second whilst it was in motion Ya'd thought it would have or possibly should have ,, I 'm very happy for them it ending with everybody getting to the dinner table that night,

....thanks for the replys ,
ATB gents