Episode 360: Understanding Tail Rotor Malfunction v.s. Failure

The problem is people are getting confused between tail rotor malfunctions, failures, stuck pedal. During our checkrides, with our exam we've been using all these years, when they've done the oral, they've completed the oral and they're going out to the helicopter to pre flight, he sends them out first and lets them get started. And about the time they come around to the tail rotor area, that's about time. I see him walk up and start asking them questions and I know what he's going to ask them. One of the things that people get confused about often is the direction of tail rotor thrust. Tail rotor thrust is pushing against the tail boom counter affecting torque. But people, I think because of way this is described, sometimes there's dirty turbulent air moving out away from the tail rotor this way. So people envision that, that turbulent air moving out as the thrust common private pilot and otherwise. Question, which way is the thrust? Tail rotor thrust, it's moving against the tail boom. And this topic, I got several other important points for you. If you're going for a checkride, something that our examiner has been talking about for more than 10 years and he's actually requested me to do videos on this more than once because he said the problem is people are getting confused between telerotor malfunctions, failures, stuck pedal. So what you have to remember is a failure is the drive shaft breaks, the tail boom comes off, the tail rotor, flies off the aircraft. That is a failure. Then you have malfunctions like a stuck pedal. The tail rotor is still operating correctly, but you can't move the pedals. And I never read from the book, but listen to this very closely. Anti torque failure usually falls into one of two categories. One is failure of the power drive portion of the tail rotor disc resulting in a complete loss of anti torque. The other category covers mechanical control failures, prohibiting the pilot from changing or controlling tail rotor thrust, even though the tail rotor may still be providing anti torque thrust. And then you have LTE that comes into the mix. Okay, loss of tail rotor effectiveness. Nothing is wrong with the tail rotor. It's still operating, it's doing what it's supposed to be doing. But the helicopter has been put in an odd position by the pilot where you've got these one of three winds that are causing lack of tow rotor effectiveness. So if you want a tip for check rides on top of our book over here I'm going to show you. Have Lindsay follow me over here. Make sure as you're preparing, know what it says in here about tail rotor malfunctions failures stuck pedals LTE all of those sections in this book you need to take a close look at prior to your checkride. So again, this is something I'm telling you that we hear and see and my examiner talks about all the time, is people get confused between those different tail rotor issues, stuck pedals LTE tail rotor flies off drive shaft brakes make sure you understand the differences. He's asked me again more than once. He said I see this continually on checkrides. Instructors aren't doing a good enough job at making sure the students understand the differences between them. If you want some more tips for your check ride or your helicopter training or anything related to helicopter flying, it's called Private Pilot 101 Helicopter Training Blueprint. Has a lot of training tips in there. It is geared for newbies, but basically anybody just wants to learn and read. Find lots of cool free resources and otherwise private pilot 101 link down below free PDF and then it's also available on paperback and Kindle link below. Peace out.

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