“The Z-8 helicopter is a Chinese version of the French Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon helicopter.”
“The Z-8 helicopter is a Chinese version of the French Aérospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon helicopter.”
That explains it. In the low-quality video I mistook it for a Chi-Com copy of the Soviet Mi-8. Except the rotors on the Mi-8 spin clockwise, backwards from most that are made in the west. And if the tail rotor had lost authority, the fuselage should have been spinning in the opposite direction, counter-clockwise.
But this one is spinning clockwise (viewed from above), which fits with loss of tail rotor effectiveness with a counter-clockwise turning rotor (Newton’s equal and opposite reaction).
The explosion was probably from the cable getting caught in the rotor head and sawing through the tail boom as it got reeled in.
Only two things can save you from LTE. Either a goodly amount of airspeed or a lack of altitude. If you have airspeed (or can get it), slipstreaming will keep the tail boom behind you. Then you keep up your airspeed up and land it like an airplane, a “running” landing. The trick is, you’ve got to get the airspeed with basically ZERO power applied to the rotor, because applying power (pitch) to the rotor only compounds the spinning problem.
But that’s if your only problem is that the tail rotor has stopped spinning or stalls (yes, it can happen, just from having the tail boom pointed in the wrong direction in a strong crosswind). If there’s a mechanical failure that jettisons the tail rotor gearbox, or you have tail boom separation, then you have a massive shift in center of gravity, which the only emergency procedure for is to put your head between your legs and kiss your butt good-bye.
It also can be saved if you’re at a low altitude hover (in ground effect). Airspeed or no, you just dump the collective (take all the pitch out of the main rotors), which dramatically reduces the torque between airframe and rotorhead, which also reduces the tendency to spin, then just simply brace for impact.
This is exactly why hovering at altitude (out of ground effect) is risky. If you lose tail rotor effectiveness, you’re too high to risk falling all that way at flat pitch (=no lift), but you’ve got to dump collective and get rid of as much torque as you can because the torque is what’s going to cause you to spin. If you don’t also lower the nose to gain some airspeed (so you get at least a little slipstreaming to reduce the rate of spin), it’s going to get ugly, which you can do, provided you have enough altitude. He screwed the pooch on that count. If he had cut loose the sling load and dumped collective at the first sign of LTE (before the spin was fully evolved) AND pushed the nose over, he might have been able to regain control. He had three good hard turns and never cut loose the sling load.
My hunch is he either was an inexperienced or ill-trained slingload operator.