RCAF grounds Cyclone helicopters

The RCAF has grounded their fleet of Cyclone helicopters after Sikorsky sent out an ASB covering the S-92 fleet they are based on. On December 28th, an S-92 belonging to CHC Helicopters lost tail rotor authority while landing on an oil platform. They spun onto the helipad, and were able to land with no injuries.

The ASB calls for an immediate inspection of the tail rotor before each aircraft flies again, followed by a specific check of the HUMS. It's estimated the inspection process will take about 11 hours.

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a reply to: Zaphod58

Where, in your estimation, is the failure most likely situated?

Seems like the sort of thing that designers and engineers would want to make certain to get right first time, no?

a reply to: TrueBrit

It could have simply been a faulty bearing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a one off situation, but with it being the tail rotor, better safe than sorry.

That's odd because there were massive amount of Chinooks and Cyclones which flew directly over me the day before yesterday heading east...
I live in Alberta and you rarely ever see one let alone multiples and flying as low either... It was very loud...
With all the tanks and troop carriers ive seen moving on trains lately pretty sure something is ready to kick off... Hope it has nothing to do with Russia...

a reply to: 5StarOracle

Sikorsky only released the ASB yesterday.

If the operator has spares, they could save a lot of time by inspecting a spare bearing, while the aircraft bearing is being removed and just swapping out the bearing. The bearing that was removed from the aircraft could be returned to stock if it passes inspection.

I have a phobia about tail rotors and always triple checked any work that I did to them. We had a pitch change link failure on a maintenance check flight after replacing a tail gear box. We were in a hover and I was looking out the cargo door watching the tail when the failure happened. I had just told the pilot to get us on the deck when we spun and I was tossed across the inside, leaving a nice dent in the other side of the fuselage. I was the only person not strapped in and the only person hurt. My injuries from that was why I had to get out of the Navy.

a reply to: JIMC5499

The Honolulu Fire Department replaced their helicopter with a pair of NOTAR after Air One crashed during a rescue. The pilot was hovering over some trees, and a jacket got pulled out of the door and fouled the tail rotor, and they went into the trees.

a reply to: Zaphod58

NOTAR is nice but it can only be used on certain size helos.

The tail rotor pitch change shaft bearing seized 4.5 hours after the crew received an alert. The bearing was found with evidence of overheating and extreme damage.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: JIMC5499

The worst one I saw was when Test Group lost a -53 during a rescue attempt. They were in the hover, lowering the PJ when the tail folded on them and they lost control. It took them days to find the PJ, because they came down on him.

And they're grounded again. On March 7th an OT&E aircraft was landing on a training flight, when it suffered an uncommanded change in descent rate. Investigators are working to determine what caused it to happen, but have grounded the fleet until they have an idea of what happened.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Those bigger helicopters are different, obviously.

I used to fly smaller helicopters, and it is expensive to keep them running.

Most of the restrictions have been lifted and flying, beyond currency training, has resumed. Sikorsky found a software problem in the flight control software and will have a fix in place before Block II deliveries begin.

www.flightglobal.com...