Bell 214ST testbed crashes, no injuries

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.  

The Crank of the X3

Eurocopter's X3 Helicopter will no doubt be very sleek and fast, but I'd say it will be a little dangerous on the ground for those who are used to loading and unloading with the rotors turning!  

Why Helicopter Design is Difficult

This short video of visualized airflow around a CH-47 in flight demonstrates the challenges facing rotary wing design engineers. The speaker, Dick Spivey, is considered to be the father of the V-22 program.  (H/T Rotor and Wing editor Andrew Parker for this).

By the Numbers

From the May 2012 Rotor and Wing, h/t Andrew Drwiega...


Some numbers mentioned during Sen Jeff Sessions' speech before the Army Aviation Association of America.  


Over the last three years...


- Defense spending has increased 10%.
- Medicare spending has increased 37%.
- Department of Education spending has increased 70%.


Food stamp spending has increased 300% since 2001.  


The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost $1.3 trillion over the last ten years.  


The US budget deficit for LAST year was $1.3 trillion.  


In 1962, defense was 48% of the budget, while entitlement spending was 26%.  In 2013, defense will be 19% of the budget and entitlement spending will be 60%.  


The Department of Defense (DoD) budget is $688.3 billion out of a total Defense budget of $903.3 billion ($130 billion for vets, $43.8 billion for foreign economic aid, and $12.5 billion for foreign military aid).  


With continuing budget deficits each year exceeding $1 trillion, completely eliminating the DoD outright would not balance the budget.  


Guns or butter, take your pick.