Helicopter ride, AT NIGHT, any pilot would have full knowledge/awareness of, and avoid radio towers like the plague. right? Blancolirio analysis .
6 killed when helicopter breaks up and plunges into the Hudson River Jump to 1:45 for eye witness account . Image Unavailable, Please Login .
Based on the video of the rotors landing later and still rotating it looks like failure at the rotor mast or whatever it's called. Very sad and that photo is pretty terrible as the occupants knew their fate likely for not a short period.
I suppose the gearbox froze and the tail sheered off from torque but my guess is structural failure. Its hard to believe either of these were not caught in inspection.
Youtube comment: >>> plausible mechanical/maintenance failure @bobsmalser8304 5 hours ago (edited) Happened to me once in a Blackhawk, but we kept the main rotor and all survived. This was a VN-era Bell 206. The transmission above the cabin locks up from a failed bearing or lack of lube, snapping the shaft and allowing the main rotor to hit the tail boom. The impact caused the main rotor to separate, and the cabin falls like a rock without the main rotor acting as a parachute. Speculation, but based on a real incident. .
Wouldn't a transmission temp warning warn you of either? I understand many also have chip sensors in the transmission? Also generally speaking when a mechanical device is on its way to seizing in the latter stages a great deal more power is required to just maintain normal operation. Would this not have been noticed? Never cared for helos and this just reinforces that.
can't tell what's left, if anything, of the gearbox/rotor assy. ...... did the whole thing detach, or did it start with 1 blade detaching first? .......... I hate copters with just 2 blades , mo blades, mo better . Bell 206 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_206 Image Unavailable, Please Login .
ok, this screenshot looks like both blades still attached to the mast. Image Unavailable, Please Login .
Years ago a NYC radio station was on the air giving a traffic report when the reporter suddenly stopped and you could hear a whine in the background. Then she yelled "Hit the water!" three times and the line went dead. Apparently the transmission seized up solid and the rotor stopped turning almost immediately. The chopper immediately fell into the river and both occupants died. I believe the helicopter was a Brantley.
Years ago I had an Army chopper pilot tell me that the nut that holds the rotor hub on is called "the Jesus Nut". When I asked why , he said that's the first word that you would hear when it comes off.
Information coming out does not look good for the chopper tour company....maintenance fails, financial issues... = safety problems....
WOW! didn't expect to see that, the transmission mounts are intact with the mounting beams. The whole upper deck is ripped out of the fuselage. Image Unavailable, Please Login . . . Image Unavailable, Please Login . .
So helicopter people, would that be an indication of a failure of the transmission and the engine torque and rotor inertia tore it out of its mounts or?
Engine torque would not have that kind of effect. My guess is the main gearbox suffered an internal failure which resulted in sudden stoppage. Maybe a sun gear or planetary reduction gear failure. The inertia of the main rotor would likely have twisted the gearbox from its mounts. This particular helicopter may have had weakness in the upper-deck structure...possibly a cracked longeron or poorly executed repair, that allowed the entire upper deck to separate instead of just the gearbox. What seems odd to me is that those kinds of failures rarely appear out of the blue. Normally there is a progression of failure that includes rapidly-increasing and multiple symptoms (abnormal oil pressure, chip lights, vibrations, noise, torque fluxes, yaw kicks...etc) which allow the pilot to decrease the severity of the maneuver (limit torque application and flight control inputs) and to seek an emergency landing area. This one appeared to occur rapidly. Or the pilot mismanaged the emergency. Tragic in any case, and awful to see.
