Tail Rotor

[Kowshik]

1. For Mi-8 helicopter what will happen if our tail boom is broken up in the air at 180 kph??

 

2. What will happen if we have got single engine failure at 220 kph with full load??

[Kang]

1. You might get the urge to revise your next-of-kin information. Things start spinning, slowly at first, then out of control.

 

2. Depends on how full load we are talking. Generally speaking you can limp around on one engine.

[Kowshik]

1. I have heard that there in very less effect of tail rotor in higher speed. Can you plz highlight this thing??

[Kang]

That is true. When travelling at higher speeds the effect is much less pronounced and you will start going out of control rather slowly. In fact, slow enough to watch it happen. If you are flying low and over favourable terrain, you might even manage to drop the helicopter down safely, if you manage forward speed, main rotor RPM and sink rate just right. And you have some luck.

 

Nonetheless you do need the tail rotor to have full control, the Mi-8 will not just keep on flying straight if you lose it entirely.

[AlphaOneSix]

There are different procedures depending on if the tail rotor is stuck at a certain pitch angle but it's still being driven, or if the tail rotor drive system fails and you lose tail rotor thrust completely. I will assume these are the failures you mean, because the tail boom itself doesn't exactly come off like it does in-game, and if it does then the aircraft will crash out of control.

 

The procedures for dealing with the first two situations can be found in section 10 of the game manual. We have had both situations occur where I work and in both cases the aircraft was able to land without injury to any occupants, although the aircraft sustained a bit of damage in both cases and was no longer flyable.

 

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Single engine failure is also covered in section 10 of the manual. Generally you just slow down to an airspeed range based on altitude and weight that results in no loss of altitude. If it is not possible to maintain altitude, perform an emergency landing. The aircraft is quite capable of continuing to fly on a single engine in most cases, and if not, then it's simple enough to just execute a running landing, presuming that there is suitable terrain to perform a running landing.

[gazpad]

To get directional stability without working tail rotor in cruise flight you need the stabilizers. The most common way to lose your tail boom in game is collision with main rotor blades. In this case, it usually cuts the boom at a point that these stabilizers are gone as well. So best you can do in this moment is cut the fuel, try to touchdown with no pitch or bank and cushion with remaining rotor energy.

[ngreenaway]

To get directional stability without working tail rotor in cruise flight you need the stabilizers. The most common way to lose your tail boom in game is collision with main rotor blades. In this case.

 

For the mi8, perhaps. I haven't lost a boom in-game. For the ka-50, all it takes is small arms fire to lose everything aft of the transmission. No big deal, Helo flies fine (still perfectly balanced as well)

[Kang]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember that the Ka-50 doesn't have a tail rotor to begin with.

[ngreenaway]

It doesn't. But it does have a boom. And my remark was snark directed at the damage modelling and the obvious weight and balance issues that should preclude you from maintaining straight and level flight after losing that much of the airframe structure

[gazpad]

I haven't lost a boom in-game.

 

Oh it isn't that hard. Any ham fisted dynamic manoeuvre does the job usually :D

[ngreenaway]

Oh it isn't that hard. Any ham fisted dynamic manoeuvre does the job usually :D

 

I should've qualified that statement with "in an mi8". I've lost rotors in the huey (who hasn't?) And virtually everything on the gazelle