Bell 206 down in the Hudson

Jesus, that's a hell of a way to die. And kids too - ugh.

I don't know why it matters, but I'm really hoping it's not a drone collision.
 
azmedic said:
6 SOB - no survivors. I don’t know a ton about helos, but it looks like the tail separated midair. Jesus Nut give or..?


View: https://x.com/JustLookingMon/status/1910426061583892839



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At the 1 sec mark it looks like the main rotor flying off in one piece. What would cause that?

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Skåning said:
At the 1 sec mark it looks like the main rotor flying off in one piece. What would cause that?

View attachment 83171
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Best guesses…

1. Catastrophic failure (metal fatigue, etc).

2. Mast bumping which caused the main rotor to contact the boom. Gyroscopic precession forces the effect for that side of the main rotor to separate 90 degrees later.

3. Foreign object impact (bird/ UAV, etc).
 
You can get mast bumping with a negative G pushover on a semi-rigid rotor system. Less of an issue with ships with higher inertia rotor systems.

Big, big, big teaching point on those ships.
 
Lawman said:
That looks like a catastrophic transmission failure, but at this resolution who knows.


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Yeah, I was going to say, that object at the end of the rotor shaft appears to resemble a transmission.

That video looks absolutely terrifying, but at least it was quick, I guess.
 
Skåning said:
At the 1 sec mark it looks like the main rotor flying off in one piece. What would cause that?

View attachment 83171
Click to expand...
That rotor assembly appears to have the upper portion of the transmission still attached. A 206 has an abundance if rotor inertia if an engine decides to call in sick and from what I've heard that makes an auto rotation much easier. I've been hands on when a Twin Star (AS350) had a swash plate bearing going bad (I'd crawl up there and touch it after they landed and it started getting hot). I don't recall ever hearing of a transmission failure this dramatic but I also haven't worked on helicopters for almost three decades.
 
Richman said:
You can get mast bumping with a negative G pushover on a semi-rigid rotor system. Less of an issue with ships with higher inertia rotor systems.

Big, big, big teaching point on those ships.
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And only on semi rigid underslung. Rigid and fully articulating, not an issue. Though one has to work at getting into mast bumping, it’s not something that just happens. Ham-fisted flying is one of the biggest causal factors.
 
Old Boeing Driver said:
In the Vietnam era, didn't the 206 have a problem with the main rotor striking the tail boom?
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Only normal way that happens is, other than material failure of a MR blade, by potentially a hard landing, especially one power-off; or again, ham-fisted flying either with out without negative G forces, but moreso with.
 
MikeD said:
Only normal way that happens is, other than material failure of a MR blade, by potentially a hard landing, especially one power-off; or again, ham-fisted flying either with out without negative G forces, but moreso with.
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IIRC, there were several tail boom strikes at Ft Rucker. I think maybe with auto rotations. But, it's been a long time ago. May have been hard landing at touchdown.
 
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Old Boeing Driver said:
IIRC, there were several tail boom strikes at Ft Rucker. I think maybe with auto rotations. But, it's been a long time ago. May have been hard landing at touchdown.
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That was a driving factor in the removal of touch down autos from both the 206 and the 58 training.

It’s possible for a 60 to cut off its own tail as well but you have to fly well outside normal in any of those aircraft to do so. 64s do the opposite and take the PNVS off or enter the crew canopy glass. Same thing, usually as part of a forced landing/crash sequence.


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