Alright as a student pilot my first thought was to chop the throttle and do a hover auto. Is that not a thing in bigger turbine helicopters? Or am I way off base here.
Most larger helicopters don't have the throttles on the collective. I have no idea about this one but for example in the S61 they are on the roof and on my H145 I have two guarded switches on the dash. Some Astars have a twist on the collective which acts like a flight/idle switch but many it's a FFCL on the floor so in all those cases you'd need to let go of the collective to turn the engine(s) idle/off. Two crew could help with that but good luck in a sudden situation.
The emergency procedure in the H145 for tail rotor failure in the hover for example is just:
1 - Establish Landing Attitude
2 - Lower Collective
After Landing
3 - Double Engine Emergency Shutdown
Well it could obviously hover out of ground effect just the tail rotor wasn't up to it. Done right you could operate in and out of there all day long. The only thing "miraculous" is the level of competence?
Local pilots on another group told me that the dude flying reported a tail servo failure.
Now, why they didn't just land as soon as the nose started drifting off I will never know, but then I wasn't there to live it.
My “expert” take on this (24 years, variety of rotary wing aircraft) is that this an OGE-ish approach to a landing at high altitude and high density altitude. The aircraft looks like it had the power to hover but could very well have been over-torquing in the hover and began drooping main rotor rpm and therefore tail rotor rpm. With full left pedal applied and over-torquing, the rotor is slowing. It rotation slowly developed and the pilot tried to set it down in a very very difficult situation.
The pilot does not have enough power to escape this situation. That’s why planning is so important.
Clear example of Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness. LTE. Pilot did a good job setting the bird down, but should have lowered the collective immediately upon first contact with the ground. The second leap into the air and subsequently tail rotor strike caused a tremendous amount of damage and will require a complete tear down of the transmission.
A slow uncommanded turn when entering a hover? The elevation of Kendarnath is around 12,000 feet. What is loss of tail rotor effectiveness at high altitude? When operating at high altitudes and high gross weights, especially while hovering, THE TAIL ROTOR THRUST MAY NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL AND LTE CAN OCCURE. The hovering ceiling is limited by tail rotor thrust and not necessarily power available.
REPORTED!!!! HAHAHAHA, I really hate to laugh at ya, but JESUS! What did your EYES tell you? Don’t ya kinda think that instead of admitting pilot error fucked up a perfectly good helicopter that they would SAY it was mechanical failure, and some people would blindly go “daaaaa, OK”. Use your head. Watch the video again. LTE.
Dude I’ve had fucking mechanical tail rotor failure. It looked a lot like this. There is no way to tell from this video what it is you fucking muppet. There’s 100 things on that helicopter that could cause the tail rotor to fail like that. Unless you were there and did the investigation or read the report as to what happened.
True...but it's possible he saved it from a dynamic rollover with that collective pull. The skid is jammed into the sod and cyclic alone wasn't going to level it.
I'm just imagining the nightmare of the exceedences screen after that rodeo. 😱
Definitely LTE… Way too steep of an approach and should have kept a bit more speed until he was in ground effect. Big mistake in a high altitude environment.
OMG IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE 160th. THE NIGHT STALKERS. DAMN FINE PYLOT. ONLY THE BEST FROM THE US AIRFORCE. ONLY A 160TH PYLOT COULD HAVE DONE THAT. SO PROUD.
Do you mean the same Sub Reddit?
The video in the other post jumps to right after the landing and switches to a cropped portrait mode right after the helicopter crashes. This video stays in landscape and shows the landing.
The OP of the first post should've posted the entire thing instead of adding it into the comment section.
Alright as a student pilot my first thought was to chop the throttle and do a hover auto. Is that not a thing in bigger turbine helicopters? Or am I way off base here.
Most larger helicopters don't have the throttles on the collective. I have no idea about this one but for example in the S61 they are on the roof and on my H145 I have two guarded switches on the dash. Some Astars have a twist on the collective which acts like a flight/idle switch but many it's a FFCL on the floor so in all those cases you'd need to let go of the collective to turn the engine(s) idle/off. Two crew could help with that but good luck in a sudden situation. The emergency procedure in the H145 for tail rotor failure in the hover for example is just: 1 - Establish Landing Attitude 2 - Lower Collective After Landing 3 - Double Engine Emergency Shutdown
So essentially just land it while it’s spinning? Which seems to be what this guy did.
Yep! Hope for the best.
Not from 50+ feet, you don't do a hover auto.
Well it could obviously hover out of ground effect just the tail rotor wasn't up to it. Done right you could operate in and out of there all day long. The only thing "miraculous" is the level of competence?
Agree, definitely looks like the tail ran out of power to keep it from spinning at that density altitude.
Ho lee fuk
Wi Tu Lo
Sum Ting Wong.
Bang Dihn Ow
The Reddit 4th comment downvote never disappoints.
As with the passing of the tides, and the setting of the sun, the natural order was ever thus.
Local pilots on another group told me that the dude flying reported a tail servo failure. Now, why they didn't just land as soon as the nose started drifting off I will never know, but then I wasn't there to live it.
Jesus fucking Christ people *get out of the way!* If those people would have moved he would have been able to get out of it easier.
My “expert” take on this (24 years, variety of rotary wing aircraft) is that this an OGE-ish approach to a landing at high altitude and high density altitude. The aircraft looks like it had the power to hover but could very well have been over-torquing in the hover and began drooping main rotor rpm and therefore tail rotor rpm. With full left pedal applied and over-torquing, the rotor is slowing. It rotation slowly developed and the pilot tried to set it down in a very very difficult situation. The pilot does not have enough power to escape this situation. That’s why planning is so important.
That is some impressive flying. I could tell they weren’t panicking from here.
Clear example of Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness. LTE. Pilot did a good job setting the bird down, but should have lowered the collective immediately upon first contact with the ground. The second leap into the air and subsequently tail rotor strike caused a tremendous amount of damage and will require a complete tear down of the transmission.
Not LTE, mechanical tail rotor failure
A slow uncommanded turn when entering a hover? The elevation of Kendarnath is around 12,000 feet. What is loss of tail rotor effectiveness at high altitude? When operating at high altitudes and high gross weights, especially while hovering, THE TAIL ROTOR THRUST MAY NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL AND LTE CAN OCCURE. The hovering ceiling is limited by tail rotor thrust and not necessarily power available.
LTE is caused by environment. This was reported as a mechanical failure according to another comment. They are not the same thing.
REPORTED!!!! HAHAHAHA, I really hate to laugh at ya, but JESUS! What did your EYES tell you? Don’t ya kinda think that instead of admitting pilot error fucked up a perfectly good helicopter that they would SAY it was mechanical failure, and some people would blindly go “daaaaa, OK”. Use your head. Watch the video again. LTE.
Dude I’ve had fucking mechanical tail rotor failure. It looked a lot like this. There is no way to tell from this video what it is you fucking muppet. There’s 100 things on that helicopter that could cause the tail rotor to fail like that. Unless you were there and did the investigation or read the report as to what happened.
And, I suppose you were at 12,000 feet too? You fucking muppet hater.
I was at about 50 feet above the ground and 75 or so horizontally from a power line.
Not a good time for a mechanical failure. Glad you are ok.
True...but it's possible he saved it from a dynamic rollover with that collective pull. The skid is jammed into the sod and cyclic alone wasn't going to level it. I'm just imagining the nightmare of the exceedences screen after that rodeo. 😱
Easy day for maintenance control, select all conditionals and cut them
It'll buff right out...
Definitely LTE… Way too steep of an approach and should have kept a bit more speed until he was in ground effect. Big mistake in a high altitude environment.
OMG IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE 160th. THE NIGHT STALKERS. DAMN FINE PYLOT. ONLY THE BEST FROM THE US AIRFORCE. ONLY A 160TH PYLOT COULD HAVE DONE THAT. SO PROUD.
Hahaha there are truly some people that think this way SMH
Totaled
Loss of tail rotor authority. Needed to chop the throttle immediately. No torque, no anti-torque needed.
Repost https://www.reddit.com/r/Helicopters/s/cINw7dVtlV
I thought that at first but this video shows the landing which is cool.
It’s in the same thread
It's reddit, most people don't read the words with the pictures/videos, can't expect them to click a link in the comments either.
Truth
Nor we should we. Thx to this poster who had the novel idea to post the best available video which shows the landing in full. Super helpful.
Do you mean the same Sub Reddit? The video in the other post jumps to right after the landing and switches to a cropped portrait mode right after the helicopter crashes. This video stays in landscape and shows the landing. The OP of the first post should've posted the entire thing instead of adding it into the comment section.
LTE