You’ll Want to Know THIS About Last Month’s Destin Tour Helicopter Crash Before You Take Your Family on a Flight:

Mid-Bay News ^ | July 07, 2025 | Christopher Saul

[Red Badger]

DON’T EVER GET ON ONE OF THESE ‘TOUR’ HELICOPTERS...................

[BobL]

“In the report, the investigator stated that a bolt from the cyclic servo had backed out and fallen off of the connecting rod. The bolt was located inside the wreckage. Other bolts were found to be only hand-tight.”

Have to be PRETTY DUMB to take a helicopter ride without checking the torque of the Cyclic Servo.

(how the Libertarians see it)

[FamiliarFace]

That’s nuts. Thanks for the tip.

[Red Badger]

Yeah, LOOSE NUTS!.................

[dfwgator]

Pinochet Airways?

[FamiliarFace]

Hand tightened! Ludicrous!

[Bonemaker]

Company needs to provide mechanics with wrenches and loctite.

[Red Badger]

At least his nuts weren’t loose................

[Red Badger]

Aviation Ping!......................

[FlingWingFlyer]

DEI. All part of that dumb ass racist phrase, “You can be whatever you want to be.” No you can’t. You’ve got “doctors” south of the border who specialize in making women’s butts so huge they look like they made 10 round trips across the Darien Gap to America and ate everything they could find. Real four and five hundred pounders.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

I was just doing touristy things in Destin at the end of June, glad I didn’t think to take the chopper tour.

[Psalm 73]

Two guys should lose their jobs - the A&P mechanic and the QA Inspector.

If the pilot doesn't strangle them first.

[rlmorel]

I have always admired what helicopters and their crews can do, but have always been distrustful of them to a degree due to the complicated nature of the machinery that accomplishes what appears to be “magic”.

When I was in the USN, I recall watching a grease-covered mechanic working on the rotor of an SH3 Sea King on the flight deck. I mentioned to him that I always felt uneasy looking at all those linkages, bolts, and grease while thinking there were too many moving parts.

He agreed, and pointing at something described it as the “Jesus Nut”.

I said why is it called the “Jesus Nut” and he said something like “If any of these fail, that is bad, but if the “Jesus Nut” fails...you are going to meet Jesus!”

[Red Badger]

He was 110% correct....................

[DIRTYSECRET]

Air Force pilots ate officers. Army helicopter pilots are enlisted.

[mabarker1]

No Loctite, Safety Wire is the rule.

[mewzilla]

If you’re tightening that nut by hand, I recall reading that you need two people to do it.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Bolts on the cyclic were HAND TIGHT and the chopper made FOUR FLIGHTS that day?

Not likely.

[redfreedom]

Something as critical as flight control components are not only torqued but most likely safety wired. And when such components are worked on a quality control inspector of sorts needs to sign off on it. This tells me of extreme negligence or sabotage.

Or so that’s the way it was in the Army when I was around helicopters.