Bell 525 Prototype #1 Goes Down

199 kts at about 1300' AGL...tailboom found 1500' from the main wreckage...I wonder if that film (should it ever see the light of day) will show the aircraft pitching up and roll...
 
deadstick said:
199 kts at about 1300' AGL...tailboom found 1500' from the main wreckage...I wonder if that film (should it ever see the light of day) will show the aircraft pitching up and roll...
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Can you elaborate for the non-rotorheads? You implying retreating blade stall or one of those other scary helicopter things?
 
Depends what phase of flight that last data point was taken from. Level? Post incident? Not enough info yet.
 
Roger Roger said:
Can you elaborate for the non-rotorheads? You implying retreating blade stall or one of those other scary helicopter things?
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Those are factors of retreating blade stall, yes. But without knowing when that data point was taken, it cannot be attributed to anything yet
 
MikeD said:
Depends what phase of flight that last data point was taken from. Level? Post incident? Not enough info yet.
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Good point. The aircraft could have already departed controlled flight.

First the 609 and now the 525. This sucks.
 
Not sure how accurate but a contact at Bell tells me that the 525 was descending as part of a VNE verification/certification test. He didn't know what caused the separation; not sure if the main hit the tail boom or if vibration was the culprit. Time will tell
 
Update:

NTSB investigator John Lovell said the “data indicates that main rotor [rotations per minute] dropped significantly” and the main rotor blades “appeared to have dropped from their normal plane of rotation.” NTSB investigators have not released their preliminary findings of the July 6 crash in Ellis County that killed two pilots, it appears the main rotor struck the front and back of the helicopter, causing the helicopter to break up in mid-flight, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.

Apparently the out of track blades (two opposing) dropped enough to cut through the cockpit and tailboom in flight. Bad deal............
 
dustoff17 said:
Update:

NTSB investigator John Lovell said the “data indicates that main rotor [rotations per minute] dropped significantly” and the main rotor blades “appeared to have dropped from their normal plane of rotation.” NTSB investigators have not released their preliminary findings of the July 6 crash in Ellis County that killed two pilots, it appears the main rotor struck the front and back of the helicopter, causing the helicopter to break up in mid-flight, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.

Apparently the out of track blades (two opposing) dropped enough to cut through the cockpit and tailboom in flight. Bad deal............
Click to expand...

Any new word?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'll be out there next week, I'll see if there is anything new. They still have not continued with flight tests.
 
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