Kenny Keller (Helicopter Alliance Ground School) answers a member question about the clutch engagement (rotor engagement) warning light on Enstrom/Instrum piston helicopters. He explains where the annunciator may be located, what a red clutch engagement light means (belt clutch disengaged), and reads Instrum guidance: if the light fails to extinguish when the clutch is stowed, do not fly until repaired; if it illuminates in flight, land and have repairs made before the next flight. He also shares a personal anecdote: the light illuminated once during a night flight (switch later found faulty) and recommends preparing for an autorotation if the light comes on in flight.
Questions this video answers
Instrum piston helicopter pilot training guide.
The belt clutch is disengaged.
Do not fly the aircraft until the fault has been repaired.
Land as soon as practicable, have repairs made before the next flight, and prepare for an autorotation (but do not auto-rotate if the aircraft is still making power).
Once in about 20+ years of flying Instrum helicopters (the cause was a bad switch).
Chapters
Hello, I'm Kenny Keller, the creator of Helicopter Alliance Ground School. And this video is to answer a question from one of our members. And our member question is Kenny, I was wondering if you put together a short video about the clutch engagement light that instructs operators on the fact that if the light does not go out when the clutch is engaged, they should not fly the ship until the repairs are made. Also about the issue that if the light comes on in flight, repairs should be made before next flight, etc. So we're going to answer this question. I'm using the Instrum piston helicopter pilot training guide as my source of information. Right here is showing an example of where that light might be. It says clutch engagement. This is your annunciator panel, your caution warning lights. Depending on the age of the instrument you're flying, that particular warning light can be in a different place. The older models, they have just one single light down by itself a little further down the dash. So depending on which model you have, that light could be in a different position. So they're telling us clutch engage light. If it's red, it means the belt clutch is disengaged. So as you're going through your startup, the rotor engagement light will be on when you engage the clutch. Once you get it all the way back and in place and locked in, that red light will go out and you return the clutch back or the rotor lever back to its stowed position. Then when you get done at the end of your flight and you disengage the clutch, the light will come back on. So for your entire flight with rotor engaged, the rotor engagement light will be off. It will not be illuminated. So Enstrom tells us if the clutch disengage light does not go out when the handle is stowed or comes on in flight, a problem with the clutch over center locking mechanism isn't indicated. So here's what I remember. I was looking for. Do not fly the aircraft until the fault has been repaired. So that is what we're getting right from Instrum. I had this come on one time in flight in the 20 some years I've been flying Instrums. And it came on on a night flight over downtown Cleveland. And that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. So we just did a quick turn, we just left the airport for a night flight, did a quick turn, went back, told the tower had a warning light that just came on. Traffic was light. So he said, field yours, do whatever you got to do to get on the ground. You're cleared to land. So I went back, landed, put it away, called the mechanic. The next day he came up. The switch was bad for that engagement lever. And because the switch was bad, that was what caused the light to come on. So I have had it come on one time during flight. I've never had it not go off once I've engaged the lever. Never had that problem. So that's my first hand experience with the rotor engagement light coming on. You know, it goes back to if it's broke on the pad, don't fly it. If you engage that lever and that light stays on, shut it down, call the mechanic, go from there. If it comes on in flight, prepare for auto rotation. You know, maybe reduce power, start looking for a place to land. Don't you know, auto rotate and kill yourself getting on the ground. If the aircraft still making power and it's still flying, do not auto rotate but prepare for an auto rotation. Light comes on, it's still flying. Find a place to land. Find a safe place to land and get on the ground and call your mechanic. So that video is for one of our members that's a member of our online ground school plus the instrum edition. We have instrum plus R22 and R44 editions to our helicopter online ground school. If you'd like to find out more about joining our helicopter ground school, there's. There's a link down below this video. Go down there and click that. Do us a favor and give us a like and a share on this video and leave your comments below and we'll see in the next video.
