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Walking Into Trouble Accidents Involving Human Contact with Propellers and Rotor Blades Persist, Despite Safety Efforts to Prevent Them

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Walking Into Trouble Accidents Involving Human Contact with Propellers and Rotor Blades Persist, Despite Safety Efforts to Prevent Them This page intentionally left blank. GrOUNDSAFETY © Copyright 2006 Chris Photography © Copyright Sorensen Walking INTO Trouble Accidents involving human contact with propellers and rotor blades persist, despite safety efforts to prevent them. BY CLARENCE E. RASH eople continue to come into of paint schemes to increase blade The primary risk presented by a contact with spinning propellers conspicuity — visibility — and have de- spinning blade is that it is difficult and rotor blades, often with fatal veloped safety programs to emphasize — often impossible — to see. In addi- consequences, even though the propeller and rotor-blade hazards. tion, noise from the engine and slip- Pdanger they represent is well known. “Constant care and vigilance [are] stream/rotor downwash may obscure Although not common, these accidents required to keep the number of … ac- noise from the blades. continue to claim flight crewmembers, cidents at a minimum,” the Australian “It is often difficult for a pilot to passengers and ground personnel. Most Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) appreciate the level of confusion that a are preventable. said in a 2003 advisory circular that dis- non-aviator may suffer in the vicinity of Aircraft manufacturers and op- cussed the prevention of injuries caused an aeroplane with its engine(s) run- erators have implemented a variety by spinning propellers and rotor blades.1 ning,” CASA said. “The area to the rear || FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION | AVIATIONSAFETYWORLD | AUGUST 2006 GrOUNDSAFETY of an aircraft is where slipstream and the airplane and — after being told that U.S., in which the pilot of a Beech C35 noise are most evident, while the front the wheel chocks had been installed on Bonanza was killed as he hand-propped of the propeller area may be relatively the left side of the airplane — feathered his airplane.4 quiet. … Pilots of high-wing singles or the right (no. 2) propeller. The captain None of the airplane’s wheels had twins have to be particularly aware of said that he heard “three or four quick been chocked in front, and the ground the risk of a passenger moving from the thumps” and was signaled to shut down was damp after heavy rain the previ- exit doors forward … toward the pro- the right engine.3 ous evening, the report said. The pilot pellers. Pilots of helicopters have to be “When he exited the aircraft, he tried unsuccessfully to start the engine alert to the possibility of people walking saw the ramp service employee lying with the electric starter, then hand- into the tail rotor while focusing on the beneath the aircraft,” the report said. propped it. engine and main-rotor disc when ap- “An employee on the ramp [later] “The engine fired, and the propeller proaching or leaving the cabin.” stated that the ramp employee involved spun, hitting the pilot,” the report said. Propeller tip speeds — which ap- walked outside of the left wing with two Spinning helicopter main-rotor proach the speed of sound during take- chocks toward the nose of the aircraft. blades have unique risk characteristics off — are dangerous even at the slower She reported that he walked to the nose because the space occupied by the rotor speeds involved in ground operations. landing gear, slowed down and then blades is large — with a typical 40-ft For example, at typical engine idling continued walking around to the other (12-m) rotor-disc span that extends as Walking INTO Trouble speeds of 1,000 to 1,200 revolutions side of the aircraft. … She heard the much as 13 ft (four m) beyond the sides per minute (rpm), propeller tip speeds ‘sound of something hit the propeller’ of the helicopter — and can be easily are 200 to 300 mph (322 to 483 kph) or and she saw the individual ‘flip and accessible. Rotating helicopter blades more.2 land on the ground.’” are especially dangerous to people out- One common scenario for propeller- The injured employee had been hired side the aircraft when the helicopter is strike injuries and deaths involves main- about one month before the accident and being powered down and the centrip- tenance and ground personnel working had received one week of general train- etal force on the main-rotor blades is around airplanes. ing, followed by specific training that had reduced, allowing them to droop closer For example, a ramp service employ- included instructions to always “chock to the ground. Because of their height, ee received serious injuries when he was the main landing gear by approaching they are associated with head trauma struck by a rotating propeller blade on from the rear,” the report said. more often than with any other type of a Saab-Scania 340B at General Mitchell Another accident scenario in- injury. International Airport in Milwaukee volves hand-propping to start a small A typical helicopter main rotor on Nov. 13, 2004. A report by the U.S. airplane’s engine. turns about 450 rpm, with tip speeds of National Transportation Safety Board For example, an NTSB report cited as much as 500 mph (805 kph) — far (NTSB) said that the captain recalled the pilot’s “inadequate start procedure” exceeding the minimum force required that he had shut down the left (no. 1) as the probable cause of a Nov. 25, to cause serious injury or death if they engine before arriving at the gate, parked 1998, accident in London, Kentucky, strike someone. Hartzell© Copyright Propeller WWW.FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG | AVIATIONSAFETYWORLD | AUGUST 2006 | GrOUNDSAFETY For example, published reports which people were struck by propel- described an accident in March 2006 lers or rotor blades; of these, 137 (83 in Nibong Tebal, Malaysia, in which an percent) involved airplanes and 29 official of a housing development com- (17 percent) involved helicopters. The pany was killed when he was struck on accidents were more than three times the head by a rotor blade of a Eurocopter more frequent during the first five years © Copyright 2006 Chris Photography © Copyright Sorensen AS 365 Dauphin. The accident occurred of this period, when 56 accidents oc- as the official walked away from the heli- curred, than during 2001–2005, when copter after checking to ensure that one 16 accidents were recorded.7 of its doors was latched securely before The causes and circumstances of what was to have been an aerial tour for propeller and rotor-blade accidents several schoolchildren.5 have been recognized for many years. Tail-rotor blades — designed to In the early 1970s, as part of a nation- counteract the torque of the main rotor wide accident-prevention program, the by generating a sideways force to con- U.S. Federal Aviation Administration trol yaw and maintain the direction of (FAA) initiated an effort to educate flight — rotate up to seven times faster pilots about the hazards.8 than the main-rotor blades, with blade- As part of that effort, in June 1975, tip speeds of about 900 mph (1,448 FAA published the first of several ad- kph; see “Unconventional Tail Rotors”). visory circulars that discussed fatalities Tail-rotor blades have been cited in and serious injuries caused by spinning nearly three-quarters of U.S. helicopter propellers and rotor blades, and issued rotor-blade accidents. recommendations to prevent these ac- For example, an NTSB report cited cidents, which “with proper education a hospital security guard’s failure “to and discipline … could be reduced to maintain clearance with the operating zero.”9 tail rotor” as the probable cause of a Jan. The FAA effort was credited with 22, 2001, accident at a hospital helipad helping to achieve a substantial de- in Quincy, Illinois, U.S., in which the crease in propeller/rotor blade acci- security guard received serious injuries.6 dents. A 1993 analysis of NTSB reports The security guard — who was on propeller/rotor blade accidents by responsible for keeping unauthorized the FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute people away from the Bell 206L-1 (CAMI; now the Civil Aerospace Medi- LongRanger — walked into the tail cal Institute) showed that the annual rotor while crewmembers were prepar- average number of accidents peaked Paint bands on ing for departure on an emergency in 1970–1974 at 25.6. The subsequent propellers and rotor medical services flight. The security decline resulted in an annual aver- blades become visible guard had attended a training session age of 15.8 accidents from 1975–1979 concentric circles when about one year before the accident that — about 40 percent fewer than the in motion, helping discussed “how to approach the aircraft previous half decade.10 ground personnel in a safe manner while the rotors are in That decline “seems attributable identify and avoid their operation,” the report said. to several actions taken by the FAA dangerous arcs. in the mid-1970s,” the CAMI report Well-Known Hazard said. “The methods included safety A review of the NTSB accident data- seminars, handouts, posters, a film base found that, from 1982 through depicting an actual accident resulting early 2006, there were 166 accidents in from improper hand-propping and the 0 | FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION | AVIATIONSAFETYWORLD | AUGUST 2006 GrOUNDSAFETY Unconventional Tail Rotors onventional tail-rotor designs in or enclosure, that forms part of the flying in the downwash of the rotor helicopters have from two to five tail fin of the helicopter. This also is system, producing up to 60 percent of Cblades and rotate in the verti- known as a “fan tail” design. In addi- the anti-torque required in a hover.”1 cal plane. The length of the tail-rotor tion, a fenestron has between eight The jets of air change the direction of blades typically is in proportion to blades and 13 blades, compared with the airflow in the tail boom to create the length of the main-rotor blades; conventional tail rotors, which seldom an aerodynamic force that opposes the typically, a tail-rotor blade is about 4.0 have more than four blades.
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