AH-64 Crash LaPorte TX with fatalities

[Warlock]

Happened this afternoon....looks like hub/blade separation...hits close to home since the crash site is about a mile from the house and probably know a crewmember from my past life as a 64 driver...no unit yet but would be 1/149th out of EFD....they would be operating at about 200 ft in this area...

http://abc13.com/news/live-reported-military-helicopter-down-in-water/1676773/

 

[Unit74]

Looking at the blade tip, it looks to me like impact with the water after low level maneuvering.


Had a UH1N do the same thing in 1998 off the coast of SoCal. Looked very similar. But I'm no expert in hello ops.

 

[Velocity173]

Witness said there was an explosion in the air and then it fell to the water. Blade sep could very well sound like that. Based on the overhead pic of that blade, looks like a lot of the hub went with it. Hoping for the best but this just doesn't look good.

 

[Unit74]

Witness said there was an explosion in the air and then it fell to the water. Blade sep could very well sound like that. Based on the overhead pic of that blade, looks like a lot of the hub went with it. Hoping for the best but this just doesn't look good.

Yea, I see that now. Is it my eyes or does it look like the shaft is still attached to the hub?

 

[Velocity173]

Yea, I see that now. Is it my eyes or does it look like the shaft is still attached to the hub?

It would appear so. Don't know if that bottom spline comes from within the xmsn (planetary gear) or just separated mid shaft on the mast. Either way, it's obvious this mast left the aircraft during flight. Question is, why?

Oh, you're looking at that grainy pic. Warlock has a close up on the other thread.

 

[kurttruk]

The main shaft has a spline that connects in the xmsn. It looks like the whole mixer came out with it. Mast not torqued? Not sure how you get such a clean separation from the mast to xmsn

 

[Velocity173]

The main shaft has a spline that connects in the xmsn. It looks like the whole mixer came out with it. Mast not torqued? Not sure how you get such a clean separation from the mast to xmsn

It does look to be a clean separation. I'm not familiar with the 64 gear box but generally on helos there's a mast retaining plate that keeps it attached to the inside of the case. Both swashplates appear to be intact and I believe that is part of the mixing assembly at the bottom. I don't see the scissor / idler links attached to the rotating swashplate but I wouldn't think that type of failure would cause mast removal anyway.

Really no telling where the exact failure occurred. I suppose a number of reasons but I'm not going to even try and guess which one. Think it will be a relatively short investigation based on the aircraft seems to be pretty much intact. They also have FDR & CVR on them so I'm sure they'll be able to piece something together soon.