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Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

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CharlieOneSix
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Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

#1 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:45 pm

Energy Voice article 21/2/2023

Sods Law - you depart on a flight to the Elgin Platform, not intending to shut down and plan to be back on the ground at ABZ before Storm Otto reaches its peak. However a tail rotor gearbox chip light comes on and you must shut down on deck as departure back to shore is not possible. Three of the five main rotor blades are subsequently snapped off during the storm. I wonder whether they carried blade cuffs and tie down ropes - probably not as they would be bulky and would take up baggage space.

I can't understand why the AAIB are involved. Both an accident and a serious incident have this definition of when they occur for the purpose of requiring notification to the AAIB:
......takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked
The H175 certainly wasn't boarding anyone with the purpose of flight because it had a tail rotor chip light which precluded flight.

Maybe I'm just being an old and pernickety lower deck lawyer...... ;)))
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Re: Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

#2 Post by FD2 » Wed Feb 22, 2023 3:12 am

It does seem odd the AAIB are involved. We had a Sea King blade bent overnight at Sumburgh. The cuffs were on, so no chance of the blades being bent up and back so it was found to be drooping in the morning, after the storm.

I think there is an increase in the wind speed as the air comes over the deck edge. KP and I were getting light on the wheels in an S61 on the Claymore one snowy night as the rotors sped up with over 100 knots indicated and the collective bottomed. The driller nearby was right down at 60 knots and kindly refuelled us, as no one could venture onto the Claymore deck. Maybe the same effect happened on the Elgin deck. Driller deck height about 40ft and Claymore over 100ft if memory right.

I wonder if any other damage was done to the H175 apart from those blades being AWOL.

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Re: Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

#3 Post by CharlieOneSix » Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:06 pm

175oops.jpg
175oops.jpg (16.29 KiB) Viewed 141 times
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Re: Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

#4 Post by FD2 » Wed Feb 22, 2023 11:55 pm

Good grief!

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Re: Grounded H175 loses 3 main rotor blades in Storm Otto

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Feb 23, 2023 12:54 am

Since they're shorter, they'll have to spin them a little bit faster. :))

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