One dead, one injured in helicopter.maintenance accident

[rigpiggy]

https://www.interior-news.com/news/one- ... s-airport/

Told when pilot started to pull collective the bird spun around and struck the AME and apprentice with the tail rotor

[Bug_Stomper_01]

https://www.interior-news.com/news/one- ... s-airport/

Told when pilot started to pull collective the bird spun around and struck the AME and apprentice with the tail rotor

Lots of rumours going around, the AME is severely injured and the apprentice is dead. Either way it’s a tragedy for all involved including the immediate families, pilot, and company. Hopefully this will at the very least result in safety improvements for the industry. Stay safe out there this season fellow AME’s

[J31]

Horrible event! Terrible that many people will deeply affected by this.

How could the pilot lose control of the tail rotor on the ground?

[MOAB]

Strobing/balancing the tail rotor comes to mind, as to how it happened though I haven’t a clue. Such an awful event. Hopefully it can be used as a reminder for everyone to be vigilant around a running machine.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Strobing/balancing the tail rotor comes to mind, as to how it happened though I haven’t a clue. Such an awful event. Hopefully it can be used as a reminder for everyone to be vigilant around a running machine.

If a helicopter breaks loose ALWAYS stay with the airframe (preferably under the belly or in the cab if the doors are open), less damage is likely that way to personnel IMO, but it’s just that, an opinion. Working around any helicopter during runs has inherent risks and an extreme amount of mutual trust between pilot and maintenance staff. Agreed it’s traumatic results but hopefully won’t be in complete vain if increased safety measures / are resultant.

[PilotDAR]

A sadly vivid reminder that when you apply power to an aircraft, you must consider where the aircraft could go if the power application results in unintended motion. I did today, and it started to go there - no problem, I had planned - but there was unintended motion, until I aborted and stopped it.

[pelmet]

A sadly vivid reminder that when you apply power to an aircraft, you must consider where the aircraft could go if the power application results in unintended motion. I did today, and it started to go there - no problem, I had planned - but there was unintended motion, until I aborted and stopped it.

True. In addition, a bit of paranoia is good to have. It is easy to get focused inside when doing a run instead of repeated outside looks, every few seconds. It caught me moving unintentionally toward some aircraft due to my improperly applying brakes a couple of days ago.

Obviously helicopter ops would have significant differences from airplanes but I am sure there are some parallels.

[SeptRepair]

How could the pilot lose control of the tail rotor on the ground?

From the gossip I have heard, The engineers were balancing the short shaft and some sort of failure with the yaw compensator and hydraulic system occurred. Balancing the short shaft you are no where near the tail rotor, but that's not to say one person was standing back in the path of the tail when it spun around and the other person was up close to the fuselage on the end of the strobe. Pure speculation.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

How could the pilot lose control of the tail rotor on the ground?

From the gossip I have heard, The engineers were balancing the short shaft and some sort of failure with the yaw compensator and hydraulic system occurred. Balancing the short shaft you are no where near the tail rotor, but that's not to say one person was standing back in the path of the tail when it spun around and the other person was up close to the fuselage on the end of the strobe. Pure speculation.

If the machine starts to spin and you start to run…. Very close to tailrotor

[Trunorth]

Very sad, thoughts go out to all involved. I hope the report of the events comes out soon so we all can learn and ensure this never happens again. Is this under OHAS ,TC or other?