S76 Struck by lightning, Happy Ending

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TipTanks

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TipTanks
So this happened today in my local airspace... its a typical stormy day, no other lightning in the area. They lost 2 of 4 tail rotor blades over the ocean at 4200ft... and continued on to the destination and landed safely. Wow.
bc.ctvnews.ca

HeliJet damaged by 'freak' lightning strike between Vancouver, Victoria

A commercial helicopter with 14 people on board landed safely in Victoria Tuesday after it was struck by lightning and damaged in what the company's president is calling a "freak" occurrence.
bc.ctvnews.ca bc.ctvnews.ca
 
TipTanks said:
They lost 2 of 4 tail rotor blades over the ocean at 4200ft... and continued on to the destination and landed safely. Wow.
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Thankfully it was a S-76. The timing of such a failure is beyond belief. Unfortunately, there was a time when losing "2" blades (they're actually one set connected) was a feature of the aircraft but due to other reasons. Good job on the crew.
 
Bell206 said:
Thankfully it was a S-76. The timing of such a failure is beyond belief. Unfortunately, there was a time when losing "2" blades (they're actually one set connected) was a feature of the aircraft but due to other reasons. Good job on the crew.
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What a robust aircraft. I have had the opportunity to be a pax in one a few times. I am curious, would the helicopter have flown alot differently after the blades sheared off? I assume some added vibration?
 
TipTanks said:
I am curious, would the helicopter have flown alot differently after the blades sheared off? I assume some added vibration?
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Depends. Once talked to a crew who lost a T/R blade segment (2 blades) due to a spar crack, but they never knew it happened until they landed and noticed the blades missing. In this case with the lightening strike they seemed to have a few more clues involved. Be interesting to read the TCCA report on this one.
 
That's what I was wondering... if they knew they had an issue. Not questioning how they handled it, but there would have been some fields on some of the islands below they could have landed in had they thought they had a major issue. Are the blades designed to shear two to maintain balance (instead of just one)?
 
TipTanks said:
Are the blades designed to shear two to maintain balance (instead of just one)?
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Not that I'm aware of. However usually when something catastrophic happens with a T/R blade the unbalance will rip the gearbox out of the aircraft which leads to other issues sometimes not recoverable. But since both pieces of the blade assy apparantly left at the same time the crew probably didnt see/feel indications requiring an emergency landing. HeliJet is a good operator with good crews so I think they did things properly.
 
Makes sense. Thanks for the insight. Agreed, Helijet is great and they handled it well!
 
We had a Black Hawk struck by lightning on the ramp at Lowe one time. Blew the tip cap off one of the tail rotor blades. Could have been ugly if that happened in flight.
 
More info, apparently the aircraft rolled onto its side when hit. They then recovered but had no electrical power or instrumentation... and continued VFR (on a very stormy IMC day) to their destination! This is as per a passenger, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
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