enstrom with stuck pedal video

[HeloPitts]

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/H....1.1&sflg=1

[bqmassey]

Cool video! Was cool that the ENG guy could provide some insight for the non-aviation folks.

[TomPPL]

Can't help thinking how different that would have been if it was a Robinson R22 ..! They aren't as forgiving as that in those circumstances. Nice bit of piloting though. Heard a story a while back about someone's mobile phone dropping off the seat (It was in between the pilots legs) and jamming itself along the side of his right pedal - think he landed OK but a bit embarrassed.

[Darren Hughes]

Nice job. I hope if this ever happens to me that I'll be in the right state of mind to make as sweet a landing as that. Just wondering though, if he had opened up the throttle fully at the end just before the set down, would it have been enough to stop the rotation? Maybe he had the throttle opened fully and that was the result? I know this would cause an overspeed, but you gotta do what you gotta do it this case, right.

Edited February 28, 2008 by Darren Hughes

[BOATFIXERGUY]

The enstrom is a tank...that's why we walk away from hard landings.

 

Nice job overall. Ya, it could have been performed better at the bottom, but what the hell...he walked away from it!

[bqmassey]

The enstrom is a tank...that's why we walk away from hard landings.

 

Nice job overall. Ya, it could have been performed better at the bottom, but what the hell...he walked away from it!

 

Not only walked away from it, but it looks like the ship's ok, too.

[BOATFIXERGUY]

Exactly...the Oleo struts may need a couple seals, but that the advantage of an enstrom. I've seen hard landings in them with zero damage except to the pilots ego.

[HelliBoy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

FAA Registry

N-Number Inquiry Results

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

N285SH is Assigned

 

Aircraft Description

 

Serial Number 2120

Type Registration Individual

Manufacturer Name ENSTROM

Certificate Issue Date None

Model 280FX

Status Cert Terminated

Type Aircraft Rotorcraft

Type Engine Reciprocating

Pending Number Change None

Dealer No

Date Change Authorized None

Mode S Code 50561046

MFR Year 2006

Fractional Owner NO

 

"Status: Cert Terminated" This guys day might get worse. Good job tho.

[RockyMountainPilot]

I wonder why he didn't fly to Metro so he had the emergency equipment available?

[captkirkyota]

How could it have been handled better at the bottom?

 

Why did he not try an auto rotation landing?

Is my brain just not functioning well right now with all the book study I've been doing for instrument?

[bqmassey]

How could it have been handled better at the bottom?

 

Why did he not try an auto rotation landing?

Is my brain just not functioning well right now with all the book study I've been doing for instrument?

 

It was a stuck pedal, not a tail rotor failure.

[captkirkyota]

It was a stuck pedal, not a tail rotor failure.

 

Doh! Alright, then an auto would only have made the spin worse.

 

So then in order to have done better at the bottom, as someone already suggested, if the throttle was available, he could have run it up a tad bit to over come the pedal input and maybe straightened in out? Although it would seem that then the increased power would also convey to the TR as well thus canceling the intended result out and we are right back to where we are, so how could it have been handled better at the bottom like boatfixer guy mentioned?

[Fiasco]

Doh! Alright, then an auto would only have made the spin worse.

 

So then in order to have done better at the bottom, as someone already suggested, if the throttle was available, he could have run it up a tad bit to over come the pedal input and maybe straightened in out? Although it would seem that then the increased power would also convey to the TR as well thus canceling the intended result out and we are right back to where we are, so how could it have been handled better at the bottom like boatfixer guy mentioned?

 

 

I thought he did a pretty good job. He got the helicopter skids to touchdown nearly parallel to the direction of travel avoiding a roll.

 

I can only hope that any failure I might experience ends up as uneventfull.

[BOATFIXERGUY]

About the fact that it could have been better at the bottom, I was responding to someone else's post. The guy did a great job. We've all practiced them and they are not a simple maneuver by any means, as loss of total control can happen if you do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

 

Now, the new enstrom's have a fix correlator. So you can't add throttle and bring the power to the top of the rotor blade green (enstroms have a large green arc for the rotor system which exceeds engine RPM). You can add power as in any helicopter though. The older enstroms do not have a correlator. They make that maneuver easier, but let's give the guy credit:

 

HE DID A GREAT JOB!

 

I would much rather pay to have the struts rebuilt than destroy a perfectly good helicopter! And that's if they need rebuilt at all! I've seen enstroms make much harder landings without any damage period. I saw a student blow an auto before and bounce the thing 10' in the air. Although he was a little scared...nothing broke on the bird...as was I, it was my bird he was flying.

[captkirkyota]

Yeah ummm let me make something clear for sure... I did not think he did not do a great job, I was only thinking that if it could have been better, as I was responding to the comment and I guess I missed the context of the comment, sorry, I was then only wondering what it could possibly be that he could have done. I would be exceedingly happy if that were me that did that well.

I have not yet done any maneuvers to simulate stuck pedal, not sure if I will or will not at my school or not, if it is the norm to teach it then I prolly will later on during commercial.

So I saw an opportunity to ask and learn, that is all, I was in no way implying that what he did was not a great result, who the heck am I but a guy without even 150 hrs yet?

[HeloPitts]

I would ask your instructor to teach you stuck left, neutral, and right all the way down to the ground. Because it can happen to anyone and it is a good tool to learn.

[Darren Hughes]

Was thinking about this a little more.

Is it possible during incidents like this that while in forward flight on final if you switched the governer off and rolled down the throttle to say 90%( maybe a little lower) that this would cause the tail rotor to be less effective due to the loss in RPM. You would pulling more pitch on the main rotor blades to keep from sinking too fast, therefor creating the same(or maybe more) amount of torque, straightening out the nose more and possibly being able to control the yaw a little better while transitioning into a hover just before a quick set-down.

 

Maybe I'm way off the mark here, but it was just a thought.

[PhotoFlyer]

One technique for landing with a stuck left pedal is to roll off the throttle while raising collective like you describe. Of course the purpose is to stop rotation and land, but I don't think it would have worked in this situation, the yaw came on quite suddenly and loss of control can happen quickly in that situation. Would be nice if somebody who knows that pilot asked how he set it down and posted.

 

I have not yet done any maneuvers to simulate stuck pedal, not sure if I will or will not at my school or not, if it is the norm to teach it then I prolly will later on during commercial.

 

It should be the norm to teach it since it can be tested in the PTS. Not saying that is the only reason it should be taught, but it is a really good reason (among others) not to overlook it.

Edited February 29, 2008 by PhotoFlyer

[jra0924]

What a great video!! Just think... on top of all the stress of landing the bird in one piece, he has another helicopter start hovering above him while he's burning off fuel ready to video tape the whole thing! The pilot was probably thinking "I better STICK this landing and look awesome, or be that pilot who DIDN'T and look bad when I'm on the local news that night!"

 

Nice Job! He has one heck of a hanger story to show and tell to his friends.

[lelebebbel]

Was thinking about this a little more.

Is it possible during incidents like this that while in forward flight on final if you switched the governer off and rolled down the throttle to say 90%( maybe a little lower) that this would cause the tail rotor to be less effective due to the loss in RPM. You would pulling more pitch on the main rotor blades to keep from sinking too fast, therefor creating the same(or maybe more) amount of torque, straightening out the nose more and possibly being able to control the yaw a little better while transitioning into a hover just before a quick set-down.

 

Maybe I'm way off the mark here, but it was just a thought.

That is pretty close to the emergency procedure i was taught. Reduce RPM, increase pitch (torque), then set it down with forward airspeed so the tail fin keeps the yaw under control. It is hard, even with only a small amount of left pedal. Also, the helicopter will continue to yaw while your skidding over the ground.

 

Looks to me like the pilot in the video tried just that, but the yaw became too much for a running touchdown so he had to slow down and let it spin. Good job, I bet that was not easy to pull off.

Edited February 29, 2008 by lelebebbel

[Goldy]

OK, dont shoot me here. Yes, the helo is on the ground, minimal damage, no injury, always a great job. However that 180 spin at the end put him in a extremely dangerous possibility of a dynamic roll over. Due to the weight and distance apart of the skids, its a pretty stable ship and it stabilized itself.

 

To all those who have asked, yes, you can practice this, and by controlling where you are on the power curve and minor collective adjustments, you can "steer" the ship without pedal changes. Get it down to 15 knots or so and go into a run on landing. I did one last week in an R22, the CFI locked his foot onto the left pedal at about 55 knots on approach to landing. 30 seconds later we were 3 feet over the runway at 20 knots, little added power straightened us out ..bleed off a lil more airspeed and let it settle to the ground. Nice lil run on.....no risk of a roll, which is a greater concern in a 22 than an Enstrom.

 

YES, we should all be practicing these. My hat is still off to the pilot who handled an emergency situation. I bet he goes out now and does a few practice runs so his skills will be even sharper next time.

 

Fly safe,

 

Goldy

[RockyMountainPilot]

OK, dont shoot me here. Yes, the helo is on the ground, minimal damage, no injury, always a great job. However that 180 spin at the end put him in a extremely dangerous possibility of a dynamic roll over. Due to the weight and distance apart of the skids, its a pretty stable ship and it stabilized itself.

 

To all those who have asked, yes, you can practice this, and by controlling where you are on the power curve and minor collective adjustments, you can "steer" the ship without pedal changes. Get it down to 15 knots or so and go into a run on landing. I did one last week in an R22, the CFI locked his foot onto the left pedal at about 55 knots on approach to landing. 30 seconds later we were 3 feet over the runway at 20 knots, little added power straightened us out ..bleed off a lil more airspeed and let it settle to the ground. Nice lil run on.....no risk of a roll, which is a greater concern in a 22 than an Enstrom.

 

YES, we should all be practicing these. My hat is still off to the pilot who handled an emergency situation. I bet he goes out now and does a few practice runs so his skills will be even sharper next time.

 

Fly safe,

 

Goldy

 

You had your CFI on board so this means you were at or neat gross weight in an 2 eat R22. This was one guy and he was very low on weight in a three seat Enstrom. This means he couldn't increase power to straighten it out without going up. Go up by yourself with 1/4 tanks and stick the left pedal to the floor and see if you can keep it straight. I can guarantee you you can't.

[clay]

did all my training in an enstrom A model, now teach in a 280C... the procedure i have learned, and teach now is to reduce throttle to minimum green , set up for a run on landing, about 6-12" skid height, increase throttle, which will bring the nose right, (remember, power is right) and let it settle to the ground and run on. it really is a non event in an Enstrom. like Boatfixer said, the Enstrom is a very forgiving machine. You almost have to try and break it to get some damage. first time i did a hovering auto with a couple hundred hour robinson guy, he was in awe as to how much cushion the Oleo struts provided.

Edited February 29, 2008 by clay

[Goldy]

You had your CFI on board so this means you were at or neat gross weight in an 2 eat R22. This was one guy and he was very low on weight in a three seat Enstrom. This means he couldn't increase power to straighten it out without going up. Go up by yourself with 1/4 tanks and stick the left pedal to the floor and see if you can keep it straight. I can guarantee you you can't.

 

You're absolutely right about the GW, we were just below half tanks so maybe we had 80-100 pounds below max. The way I learned it was to wait until you are on the back side of the power curve, let it get down below ETL, and now you will need to add power to keep it above the ground...add just enough to straighten out and hold it there while the ship settles to a run on landing.

 

Some of the posters were wondering IF it could have been done better, then how? and thats the question I was trying to answer.

 

However, I will take your advice on my next approach just to see what the difference less weight will do to the process. Rather learn it now then later !

 

Goldy

[Paisley]

I would have panicked, pulled the mixture, and shoved in full left pedal.