G'day, Yay Team ! I was in an Enstrom F-28c which did three or five unstoppable rotations to the right, while at full Left Pedal, descending at full throttle in Rotor Decay, in 1979 ;as we'd been hovering into the Wind , 300 ft from a Creek at the foot of the Hill we'd been hovering 100 ft above.., when the Wind suddenly died out. We were so full of fuel (setting out for a day of selling Joyrides) that I had 2 full 20-Litre Drums of 130-Octane between my legs, and I was trying to open the Door to ditch them, when a gust of Wind stopped the rotation, and the Pilot dived into the Riverbed..., thereby being able to slightly reduce the Collective while aquiring Airspeed, regaining a bit of Left-Pedal Authority as the Engine/Rotor RPM increased in synchrony with the Airspeed ; and then we were into Ground-Effect over the surface of the Creek at about 10 feet, accelerating below the level of Trees on the Banks, before climbing out & deciding not to hover in that spot again... We duly landed in our designated Joyriding location, and flew about 65 passengers before setting off on the 130 mile Ferry-flight back to Sydney, accross the Blue Mountains... (I think the previous day it had been 128...) ; Barnstorming in a Helicopter was a lot of fun, but it could get very intense, very fast, on occasion... These days I think of powered Rotary-Wing Machines as Heligoflopters & Gyrogoflopters, but that's merely an old Boomerang-Carver's concieted perspective... (Gyro's & Heli's can autorotate and Glide, at 1:1..., but Hubless Asymetric Boomerangs are Autorotating Sailplanes which glide at 60:1 or better...). Such is Life, Have a good one... ;-p Ciao !
Wouldn’t this really be loss of tail rotor authority? Certainly there’s an element of LTE in this story, but when I hear drooping, high power settings and uncommanded yaw, that is a pretty clear LTA diagnosis.
G'day,
Yay Team !
I was in an Enstrom F-28c which did three or five unstoppable rotations to the right, while at full Left Pedal, descending at full throttle in Rotor Decay, in 1979 ;as we'd been hovering into the Wind , 300 ft from a Creek at the foot of the Hill we'd been hovering 100 ft above.., when the Wind suddenly died out.
We were so full of fuel (setting out for a day of selling Joyrides) that I had 2 full 20-Litre Drums of 130-Octane between my legs, and I was trying to open the Door to ditch them, when a gust of Wind stopped the rotation, and the Pilot dived into the Riverbed..., thereby being able to slightly reduce the Collective while aquiring Airspeed, regaining a bit of Left-Pedal Authority as the Engine/Rotor RPM increased in synchrony with the Airspeed ; and then we were into Ground-Effect over the surface of the Creek at about 10 feet, accelerating below the level of Trees on the Banks, before climbing out & deciding not to hover in that spot again...
We duly landed in our designated Joyriding location, and flew about 65 passengers before setting off on the 130 mile Ferry-flight back to Sydney, accross the Blue Mountains... (I think the previous day it had been 128...) ; Barnstorming in a Helicopter was a lot of fun, but it could get very intense, very fast, on occasion...
These days I think of powered Rotary-Wing Machines as Heligoflopters & Gyrogoflopters, but that's merely an old Boomerang-Carver's concieted perspective... (Gyro's & Heli's can autorotate and Glide, at 1:1..., but Hubless Asymetric Boomerangs are Autorotating Sailplanes which glide at 60:1 or better...).
Such is Life,
Have a good one...
;-p
Ciao !
Wouldn’t this really be loss of tail rotor authority? Certainly there’s an element of LTE in this story, but when I hear drooping, high power settings and uncommanded yaw, that is a pretty clear LTA diagnosis.
Mr. Johnson was very fortunate.
99carnot yes sir! Never realized that speed can correct a loss of yaw!
it can happen to twin engine as well