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Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

Pilot Avoids Helicopter Crash on Maui

Another tour helicopter was in trouble on the island of Maui when it had to make a "hard landing" just off the runway with six passengers and the pilot on board. The pilot had reported tail rotor trouble. At this time we don't know exactly what kind of trouble the chopper was having - an investigation has started - the good news is no one was hurt in this incident.

The tail rotor is necessary to the chopper properly functioning. In the past there have been reports of items flying out of the helicopter passenger compartment, hitting the tail rotor causing a crash - birds have been known to cause the same problem. We'll have to wait to see what the culprit was this time - a foreign object, lack of proper maintenance, or something else - tail rotors solve as well as create problems.

Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion states that for "every action there is an equal and opposite reaction".
This was a problem from the very first when man wanted to create an aircraft that could hover - they had the problem of what is called "torque reaction" (Newton's 3rd law of motion). Many designs were tried, but it wasn't until Igor Sikorsky (yes, THAT Sikorsky) put a single rotor on the rear of the helicopter that we have our most popular design in use today for countering torque.

However this design has several flaws - they take an enormous amount of energy, they are delicate and can't handle being hit by large obstacles, they are out of the pilot's view and they are hard to accurately control. A rather common cause of accidents is when the tail rotor either hits or is hit by an object causing it to lose all anti-torque capabilities causing a crash due to the rotation of the whole helicopter. It's amazing this design is still in use on the majority of choppers and that someone hasn't yet come up with a "better mousetrap".