FracCapt
Clown punchers, unite!
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2004
- Posts
- 1,415
nosehair said:
Plus the fact that mast bumping became quite a big problem in the R22 prior to the SFAR. Now there is so much time devoted to training on low inertia rotor operations and low G maneuvers that people are much more aware of it.
Mast bumping can happen in any helicopter with a 2 bladed rotor. The difference in the Robinson versus things like the Bell 2XX line is that the training on the issue has always been pretty strong in the Bell type helicopters. That, and generally the pilots in that type of equipment are much more experienced, so they are much more aware of what's going on.
Mast bumping was discovered as a real problem during Vietnam. They started finding that many of the Hueys had damage from mast bumping. At that point, there was no training devoted to it - probably because they really didn't even know about its existence. Once they figured out what was happening, it became a big issue. Military helo pilots don't generally have the luxury that civilian pilots do in regards to making all your maneuvers slow and easy.
