Rotor Torque

The Seahawk’s last flight was from the ship into Australia’s main operating base in the Middle East Area of Operations, where it was dismantled and prepared for transport back to Australia onboard a RAAF C-17 to HMAS Albatross, Nowra. There it was reassembled and returned to the flying program at 816 Squadron.

One of the Navy’s 24 new MH‑60R Seahawks was due to arrive in-theatre to embark on the Arunta as it continues its deployment with the multinational Combined Maritime Forces as part of Operation Manitou.

N24-011 is just one of four S-70B-2s from the original 16 that are currently in service, a Defence spokesperson has confirmed to Australian Aviation. They, along with Navy’s AS350 BA Squirrels, will be retired in December.

RNZAF NH90s on restricted operations after engine failure

The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) has eased flying restrictions on its fleet of eight NH90s after an engine failure caused one of the medium utility helicopters to make an emergency landing.

On April 16, an NH90 had just departed Woodburne Air Force base, near Blenheim on the country’s south island, with nine people on board en route back to its base at Ohakea when the crew felt a large vibration followed by a loss of power in the helicopter’s right-hand Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM 322- 01/9 engine.

The crew safely performed an immediate precautionary landing on a nearby private airstrip.

On April 20 the RNZAF elected to restrict NH90 flying operations, preventing them from flying at night, over water and over mountainous terrain, while the problem engine was subsequently removed in situ and initially shipped to Safran Helicopter Engines at Sydney’s Bankstown Airport for a detailed inspection.

“The limitation on NH90 operations will prevent flights where an immediate landing will not be possible in the case of an engine-related emergency. For example, over built-up areas, mountainous terrain or over water,” read a RNZDF statement following the incident.

Those restrictions were then largely lifted on May 8.

“We know now how the aircraft performed with one engine and we are working with the aircraft engine manufacturer to clarify the initial causes of the engine failure,” Chief of Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies, said on May 8.

“Those investigations have given us confidence the aircraft can be operated safely following a similar engine failure. Therefore we have returned to normal flying operations, except where the aircraft is operating at its upper weight limits, and plan to return to full operations as soon as the engine manufacturer has determined the reasons for the initial failure.”

During the period of restricted operations the NH90s continued to fly on training missions around their home base of RNZAF Ohakea and were available for “urgent tasks of national significance”.

ATSB releases final R44 forced landing report

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has published its final report into the safe forced landing of Robinson R44 VH-SJK at Sydney’s Royal National Park at Bundeena 16km south of Sydney Airport on December 17 last year.

Having departed Sydney Airport for a private flight with a family of four on board, the R44 was flying at 500ft over water to Cape Banks on the north shore of Botany Bay before turning south to fly a coastal route over the water outside of controlled airspace.

When the helicopter was about 200–300m off the coast and climbing through 650ft, the pilot, Peter Butler, heard the low rotor RPM warning horn activate and immediately turned right towards the shoreline. During the turn and when over land, the rotor RPM tachometer indicated a decay in RPM when he raised the collective.

Having identified a landing site, Butler lowered the collective to enter an autorotation from about 300ft above the ground at 70kt and landed the R44 with about 7-8kt forward speed using a standard autorotation flare and cushion technique, with no injuries to his passengers or himself.

Landing upright in very dense scrub with the engine and rotor still turning, Butler shut down the helicopter and used a mobile phone to call rescue services. All four were winched out by the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service.

A post-recovery maintenance inspection was conducted, which included a visual inspection and ground run of the helicopter. No fault was found with the engine, drive system or flight controls.

The ATSB’s report concluded “the low rotor RPM was probably the result of a reduction in power input to the rotor from the engine, but the fault could not be reproduced during post-recovery tests.”

In its safety message section of the report, the ATSB said the lesson learned from this emergency was the importance of training and professional development.

“Although [the pilot] only used their helicopter for private flights, [he] trained for a commercial helicopter licence to improve [his] knowledge and skill in handling their helicopter,” said the ATSB report.

“[He] did not believe [he] could have flown a successful emergency landing without [his] previous recurrent proficiency training in practice autorotations.”

On the day of the incident, Butler told the ABC that the training required to get his pilot’s licence became vital when he realised there was an emergency.

“You train and train for these things before CASA will give you a licence and I’m glad they make us do it,” said Butler.

”This is the first time in a long time that I’ve had any problems and I was very glad I had the training to know what to do. You don’t get much warning.”

Red Dragons arrive in Darwin

Four USMC MV-22B Osprey tiltrotors from the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron VMM-268, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, known as the ‘Red Dragons’, arrived in Darwin in late April as part of the Marine Rotational Force Darwin (MRF-D) 17.2.

The Ospreys completed the 5,300nm flight – the first trans- Pacific flight from Hawaii to Australia for the tiltrotor – from Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii to Darwin, via Wake Island and Guam, in 21 hours, supported by two KC-130J Hercules for air-toair refuelling along the way.

While USMC Ospreys have been on Australian soil before, including for Exercise Talisman Saber and Exercise Koolendong in 2013 and Talisman Sabre 2015, as well as to support the visit by the then President of the United States Barack Obama in Brisbane for the G20 Summit in November 2014, the recent arrival marks the type’s first MRF-D deployment.

The Ospreys have joined five USMC AH-1W Cobra attack and four UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters from Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 (HMLA-367). They will be based in Darwin for the next six-months, along with 1,250 Marines.

Irish Coast Guard S-92 preliminary accident report released

Ireland’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) has used recovered cockpit voice and flight recorder data to determine an Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky S-92 flew into terrain while making an approach to refuel when it fatally crashed on March 14.

The AAIU’s preliminary report, released on April 13, said in the final seconds of its controlled flight the CHC Ireland-operated helicopter, EI-ICR “Rescue 116”, pitched up rapidly in an attempt to avoid hitting the western end of Black Rock Island, about 17km off Ireland’s west coast.

The helicopter struck the island in a nose high attitude before departing from controlled flight.

The S-92’s radar altimeter provided a callout of “ALTITUDE, ALTITUDE” 26 seconds prior to the initial impact, the pilot-incommand identifying the aural alert as being “just a small little island…” below the helicopter.

Following the initial impact, the data indicated the helicopter climbed while experiencing large changes in pitch, roll and yaw angles.

The report said the flightcrew had programmed a GPS approach route into their flight management system for a landing at Blacksod Bay, Mayo on the mainland and had selected the automatic flight control system’s search-andrescue (SAR) ‘Approach 1’ mode, which automatically descends the helicopter down to 200ft above the water at an airspeed of 80kt.

At the time of the accident, Irish meteorological service Met Éireann estimated the visibility as being two to three kilometres in mist and drizzle with an overcast ceiling at 300 to 400ft.

Despite being equipped with a Honeywell Mk XXII EGPWS with modified software for SAR profiles, the manufacturer of the system informed the AAIU that Black Rock Island was not in the terrain database for the EGPWS.

Additionally, the lighthouse atop the island was also not in the system’s obstacle database.

The Commissioners of Irish Lights confirmed the lighthouse on Black Rock Island for the night of the accident was operational and functioning correctly.

Honeywell told investigators that the EGPWS was “a situational awareness tool” and it was “not to be used for navigation”.

The AAIU issued an Interim Safety Recommendation suggesting CHC Ireland review and re-evaluate all of its route guides in use by its SAR helicopters in Ireland with a view to enhance the information provided on obstacle heights and positions, terrain clearance, vertical profile, the positions of waypoints in relation to obstacles and EGPWS database terrain and obstacle limitations.

In its statement released on the same day as the preliminary report, CHC Ireland said a review of all route guides in use was well underway as part of its internal action, adding: “It is worth stressing that this is an initial report and it does not identify the root cause of this tragic accident.”

The investigation into determining the full causes of the accident continues.

H145 receives a power boost

An upgrade to the Airbus Helicopters H145’s Safran Arriel 1E2 engines will improve the light-twin helicopter’s one engine inoperative (OEI) hover performance, giving pilots extra torque in the unlikely event of a single engine failure.

The upgrade, certified by the European Airworthiness Safety Agency (EASA) in March, will give H145 pilots around a 13 per cent increase in torque in OEI mode.

Airbus says during the first 30 seconds in an OEI case, the operating engine will automatically provide 149 per cent torque before its engine electronic control unit (EECU) automatically switches to a lower power level for a further two minutes.

Following the upgrade, the available torque now rises from 913Nm to 1,003Nm, which reflects an increase in torque from 130 per cent to 143 per cent within the two minute band.

“For this upgrade, Safran developed new EECU software and Airbus Helicopters tested the main gearbox with regards to durability [for] the increased one engine torque input,” Airbus Helicopters media representative Gregor Kursell told Australian Aviation.

“As Airbus thinks this is an important element for advanced competitiveness, for factorydelivered helicopters from approximately serial number 20166 onward this upgrade is free of charge.

“For already delivered helicopters there will be the need for a Safran field representative to upload the EECU software as a retrofit. Expenses [for this] activity are to be reimbursed by the customer, however from the Airbus side, the retrofit is free of charge as well.”

The increase in power reserves, which also affords an increase in the helicopter’s useful load by 40 per cent, will be particularly useful for EMS operators during winching operations which are strictly regulated in terms of engine power and weight parameters.