PARKED CORPORATE HELI EXPERIENCES DOWNWASH FROM LNDG HELI CAUSING BLADE DAMAGE.
Synopsis
PARKED CORPORATE HELI EXPERIENCES DOWNWASH FROM LNDG HELI CAUSING BLADE DAMAGE.
Narrative
WHILE SITTING IN PARKED ACFT; LNDG HELI'S DOWNWASH CAUSED 1 ROTOR BLADE PARKED IN 2 O'CLOCK POS TO STRIKE THE GND. VISUAL INSPECTION BY CREW FOUND SOME DAMAGE TO BLADE. A MANUFACTURER'S MAINT REPRESENTATIVE WAS FLOWN IN TO INSPECT THE ROTOR HEAD AND ALL BLADES AND ACFT WAS FOUND TO BE AIRWORTHY. THE ACFT WAS FLOWN BACK TO HOME BASE. THE LNDG HELI; ALSO AN SMT; WAS LNDG WITH A SLIGHT QUARTERING TAILWIND TO A VERY CONFINED PARKING SPOT. THERE WAS AN ACFT PARKED RIGHT ON THE OTHER SIDE ALSO! CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THE DISTURBING AND DOWNRIGHT SCARY THING ABOUT THIS IS THAT HAD THEY NOT BEEN SITTING IN THE HELI; THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN AWARE OF THE DAMAGE. THIS WAS AT NIGHT AND THE PREFLT INSPECTION WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DETAILED ENOUGH TO SPOT THE SPLIT IN THE ROTOR BLADE. RPTR DID NOT SEE THE APCH PATH OF THE HELI SO DOES NOT KNOW IF HE WAS HOVER TAXIING INTO PARKING OR IF HE MADE AN OVERHEAD APCH. THERE WAS A TAILWIND WHICH MAY HAVE REQUIRED MORE PWR USAGE THAN NORMAL. RPTR'S CHIEF PLT IS MGR OF THE SAFETY ROUND TABLE FOR HELI OPERATORS AND HAS CERTAINLY MADE THIS PROB KNOWN TO THIS GROUP. ANOTHER CORP ACFT HAD SAME THING HAPPEN RECENTLY SO INDUSTRY IS BEING MADE AWARE OF POSSIBLE PROB. RPTR STATES THE ONLY THING HE MIGHT HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY WAS TO REQUEST A FERRY PERMIT TO RETURN ACFT TO HOME BASE. HE WAS TOLD IT WAS AIRWORTHY BUT HAS A QUESTION IN HIS MIND ABOUT PROPER REG.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.