Australian and Israeli investigations uncover similar faults following two fatal crashes of Robinson helicopters
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is working with the Israeli ministry of transport in the investigation of two similar fatal crashes of Robinson R22 helicopters attributed to the loss of a main rotor blade in flight.
The investigations involve the June 2003 crash of an R22 in New South Wales on a training flight, and an R22 crash this year in Israel in February, which resulted in the loss of four lives.
The ATSB's investigation of the Australian crash uncovered a fatigue failure of the main rotor blade root fitting, with significant areas of breakdown of the adhesive bonding between the rotor blade skin, the end of the spar and the rotor blade root fitting. The ATSB studied six other R22 main rotor blades and found similar disbonding of the adhesive. The Israeli probe has also revealed that the blade failed because of corrosion-initiated fatigue in the blade root.
After the ATSB's initial findings, the US Federal Aviation Administration and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia issued airworthiness directives earlier this year requiring R22 main rotor blades to be retired every 10 years, and tracking and balancing of the main rotor blades to be conducted.
EMMA KELLY / PERTH
Source: Flight International
