Autorotator Posted June 26, 2008 Posted June 26, 2008 Just got this e-mail this morning. Thought I'd pass it along. There's a safety alert attachment as well. Hope I added it correctly. Good morning, I wasn't sure if Robinson had sent this out to everyone but I wanted to make sure you knew what was going on. This safety alert is a result of one of our pilots that took delivery of a Raven II last Friday. On his way home to Oklahoma City, along with the owner of the Raven II, approximately 70 miles west of Phoenix they experienced an engine failure and had to make an emergency auto rotation in the desert. They are fine and the ship is in great shape but with only 6 hours on the ship, needless to say, it was a complete shock. Keeping you informed... Safety_Alert0011.pdf Quote
Goldy Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 Interesting... Thanks! Whew ! I feel so much better that ours has a carb ! BTW, I was in the air last Friday at 8 PM over the water at Malibu..102 degrees! I can only imagine the AZ desert, it was probably 120 out there. Quote
Autorotator Posted June 27, 2008 Author Posted June 27, 2008 Yup. That's where I did most of my training. It was not uncommon to look at the OAT guage and see 120 f during the summer months. Anyway, glad to see they were alright! Quote
HeloJunkie Posted June 27, 2008 Posted June 27, 2008 Wow...GULP.... I have about 100 hours on my R44 Raven II that I picked up in February....a LOT of those hours are to and from the Phoenix and Parker Arizona areas. The last time I flew into Parker, the ground temp was 103 degrees, I refueled and loaded the kids back on board and we fly back to San Diego....I have done this quite a few times and each time the temp is always WAY up there, at least on the ground. Makes you hope they find a mechanical problem to blame instead of "Don't fly your helicopter if its over 105 degrees"!! I hate to see what the helicopter flight schools in Arizona (or other desert spots) are thinking right now. Guess I could run a hose from my Air Conditioning back to the fuel distributor... If anyone flies out there in those temps - have you ever had these problems or heard of them before..? I would have to imagine that it would have come up before with the number of R44 IIs out there.... In any event, thankfully the crew and the bird are OK... Quote
Autorotator Posted June 28, 2008 Author Posted June 28, 2008 I couldn't imagine the impact this would have on Robinson sales in the Southern states if you wouldn't be able to fly in temps exceeding 105f. High of 108 in Phoenix today. Quote
SquirrelFlight Posted July 10, 2008 Posted July 10, 2008 The R44 in question was examined at Quantum and went for its test flight yesterday. The way I heard it is the only thing that was found wrong with it was a sticking valve on one of the cylinders. The speculation I've heard was that the pilot may have had something wedged between the collective and fuel shut-off valve. A quick down-collective motion (from flying through thermals and mountain updrafts) and the valve goes off, along with the engine. Quote
Autorotator Posted July 10, 2008 Author Posted July 10, 2008 I've had a valve stick on me during a normal takeoff with a student. Engine cut out for just a second. I'm not saying that the engine wouldn't cut off completely, that was just my experience in an R22. There was the owner of the helicopter and a flight instructor ferrying it back together. If they had something underneath the collective (which I wouldn't believe was the case) that could wedge itself between the collective and the fuel cut off knob, that would be a dumb move imo. Seems like it would have to be an awkward shaped object to be able to wedge between the collective and turn the knob. Unless the ipod bounced its way in there somehow . Anyway, most important thing is that they are okay. Quote
auschick Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Anyone got any updated info this investigation? Is this safety alert still in force? Quote
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