During a test flight on 7 Aug 2012, a Bell 214 test aircraft reportedly lost tail rotor control... and possibly tail rotor components, landing in a field and rolling over after a wheel dug in to the soft ground. The FAA preliminary accident report is here.
Of significance is that this aircraft was testing components (possibly the transmission) for the future Bell 525 relentless project. It is more than likely that the suspected failure of the tail rotor components was unrelated to the incident, but it is impossible to know at this point. The 525 is planned to have a five-bladed rotor design, and from the wreck pictures it appears that the 214, which normally flies with a two-bladed system, was equipped with a four-bladed system.
Good job by the pilots in getting the aircraft down in one piece. Since this was an instrumented test aircraft, I imagine the investigators and the engineers will have way more data than they will need to pinpoint the cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment