Thread: Oops

Oops! I guess that wont polish out!

Originally Posted by Hugh Jars

Tail rotor/gearbox fail?

Ah, no. The general consensus is that the pilot forgot to release the nose wheel lock. I dont fly such girly helicopter's what have wheels, just ones with "proper" skid gear, but it appears that he started to taxi and fed in left pedal. When he found that the helicopter was not turning he realised that the nosewheel lock was still in and released it. As it is evidently hydraulically operated the wheel immediately spun 90 degrees, and as somebody else has said, the brown stuff hit the rotating oscillator.

To taxi some collective pitch and forward cyclic it required, as is evident by the angle of the main rotor disc. I guess it could have been saved, but a sudden swing around like that would be very confusing. The aircraft is also fitted with what some call "bear paws", or snow shoes. The shoes appear to be retracted, but I believe that the nose wheel has to be locked when they are in use, so depending on the last landing, which that pilot may not have done himself, the lock was still engaged. The pilot "should" have picked that up on a pre-flight checklist, but who knows except him.