Looks like Another Safari helicopter tail rotor failure. strange I thought that $1,500 Titanium spindle was supposed to prevent that. Sad another Pilot Killed in one of these. not the first won't be the last. I think I will stick with my Stock Commuter parts and keep it the way Pop Emigh designed it.

http://www.click2houston.com/…/breaking-helicopter…/30760428

Simply loosing a tail rotor shouldn't bring it down and most definitely not having the thing disintegrate from 300 feet before hitting the ground.
Drop collective, cut the throttle glide down.
There has to be more to the story.....

Gabor, this was a newly build machine, the problem is Safari has some major issues, they are known to sling a tailrotor blade, this then makes the main blades hit the tailboom. there are report of at least 6 that have gone down.

here is a link Safari wishs would go away. http://www.bfu-web.de/EN/Publications/I ... cationFile

Sad.

yep and what makes me Mad is the people at Safari know about these issues, but are to stupid to fix them. of course these are the same people that tried to adjust my blades on unlevel ground by eye sight at Sun_n_ Fun.
I think it was Norm that told me of one in canada, the whole tail boom came off in flight.

they have issues with cracks in the Horz. stab., Rotorhead issues. tail rotor issues, tailboom viberation issues.

note these pics from Sun-N-Fun, 2012, they have a tailboom viberation, so instead of finding the issue and fixing it right, they sandwiched the tube in aluminum bar stock and made some kind of heavy dumb bell dampener.

Strange, the Commuters never had that issue.

I just hate they keep sweeping these issues under the rug.

they safety wire the dumb bell ? with the weight at the end of the stick he will crack the tube and rip it apart he can ducktape a lead bar or drill a small hole and put mercure in the tube

why they dont by old bell 47 with wood blade if this thing have to many problem brand new i think this thing cost 150k old bell 47 dont fly apart

thanks tim for the link of the tail rotor and accident report

A tuning hammer? The Safari bozos are just shooting in the dark, We had all the dynamic fixes done with Reeds machine. and they turned a deaf ear.

Titanium isn't fixing nothing, Adding meat isn't going to fix nothing. Can't fix stupid.

.

Here is my guess .... and that is all it is is a guess

Safari has always had a low frequency vibration problem that transmits thru the fuselage and shows up in weird places like the tip of a skid which will bounce up and down in flight .... or a shake in the tailboom or somewhere else .... and my jaw would drop when the recommended solution was to strap a bag of lead shot to the skid to stop it from bouncing

There have been cases where the whole rotor system has broken off and departed the helicopter ... and killed the pilot and passenger .... the last one I think was an off duty sheriff and his wife out for an evening flight ,

I think it is because the 2-per-rev shake of the teetering rotor has no place to go .... the mast is too rigid ... so the shake shows up somewhere else in the fuselage

The Bell 47 has the engine , transmission and mast in a rubber mounted cradle that allows the whole assembly to move and oscillate up to 6 inches .... the Helicycle and Rotorway use elasomeric bearings in the head to soak up the 2-per-rev vibration

As far as I know the Safari Baby-Bell has no accommodation for the 2-per vibration ... thus the whole aircraft ends up shaking and flexing and bending .... until something breaks ... that is my guess , and one of the reasons I shied away from them .... the factory was in Ontario .... only 6 hour drive for me.

Whenever I asked the factory or owner-builders that question I received deathly slilence ... it was like they had a fear to realize a design flaw or something ... I could be wrong so somebody feel free to correct me ..... I love the Safari , but to this day they still have a "shake problem"

,

.

Yep, they won't listen to anybody. guess people will just keep dieing in these machines, yet that had the nerve to tell a Guy and Sun-N-Fun that my Rotorhead was dangerous at Alititude. Note: mine is teh same Rotorhead mark flew from Canada to Sun-N-Fun with, and had no ground support. only thing Dangerous about my head is it did make them $15,000 to replace it.

These Idiots still don't even have Elastomeric bearings in the heads.

yeah needless to say i have NO love for that Company.

.

The Bell 206 , 214 , etc. helicopters mount the main rotor shaft and transmission on what they call a Nodal beam to absorb the 2 per rev oscillation from the 2 blade teetering rotor ... it works on the same principal as when you crack a whip in an S shape there are 2 spots on the whip that pretty much remain stationary

Bell uses those "2 spots" for mounting the pylon to the airframe and it isolates a lot of the vibration .... there is a driveshaft affair with flex couplings to the turbine .... I think the turbine output shaft turns about 6000 rpm

There is an inspection hatch in the ceiling of the rear passenger compartment where the mechanics can do their servicing

On a maintenance flight a mechanic removed the inspection cover to see if he could find the source of an oil leak .... he described what he saw as "Violent Chaos" the way everything was bouncing around ..... they had a hard time getting him to ever go up in the air again after that .


.

.

Tim .... you would know .... isn't the Safari transmission and main rotor mast assembly bolted solid to the airframe ?

.

Yep and they sure did not help it when they put heavy ass composite blades on it. I don't know what the compareison is, but look at the root fittings now compared to the old Aluminum blades.

It sad that these people who have no clue, think they can redesign a helicopter better then Pop Emigh, who was a True aircraft engineer and not just a hobbist. I knew a guy that had a Commuter IIB that put over 200 hours on it before he sold it and all he did was changed oil and plugs on it. it was totaly stock and he kept it as it was designed. only reason he sold it was he bought a Hughes 300-C.

yep sure is. here are pics of it.My commuter was the same way. here is a pic of my Transmission sitting in place before I bolted it in you can see the holes for the mounting bolts.

We had the main gearbox on a node frame that flexed and removed all the excess weight in the airframe & that pos control fly-bar? Gone, straight p/p tubes, chord weights inboard on the blade root, and tip ( The too flexible blades would flex down in low pitch & pylon whirl would raise it's ugly head , Both tabs positive to keep the tips loaded ++ reduced the margin for whirl), a crash resistant fuel system
and skids that had a complete cross tubes that pivoted on bolts .

It was sold to an idiot who balled it up from 50 feet hit. It so hard the seat belts (3" wide racing type) left marks on him. If it was a standard safari he would of died.

thanks, do you have any pics of how that was set up?

Reed moved to Washington State , He had the pictures. He kicks himself for selling it.

The Ken brock fly in( youtube) has some video of it flying......

I wonder if this will come back to bite Safari in the ass. Bobby baker is the owner of the Safari helicopter company.

FAA REGISTRY
N-Number Inquiry Results
N416JB is Assigned

Data Updated each Federal Working Day at Midnight

Aircraft Description
Serial Number CH2181 Status Valid
Manufacturer Name BAKER BOBBY J Certificate Issue Date 09/12/2012
Model SAFARI Expiration Date 09/30/2015
Type Aircraft Rotorcraft Type Engine Reciprocating
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code (base 8 / oct) 51165464
MFR Year 2010 Mode S Code (base 16 / hex) A4EB34
Type Registration Individual Fractional Owner NO
Registered Owner
Name BENSON JIM
Street 932 JAYNES BEND RD

City MEHOOPANY State PENNSYLVANIA
County WYOMING Zip Code 18629-7914
Country UNITED STATES
Airworthiness
Engine Manufacturer AEROSPORT Classification Experimental
Engine Model O-360 Category Amateur Built
A/W Date 03/06/2010

The information contained in this record should be the most current Airworthiness information available in the historical aircraft record. However, this data alone does not provide the basis for a determination regarding the airworthiness of an aircraft or the current aircraft configuration. For specific information, you may request a copy of the aircraft record at http://aircraft.faa.gov/e.gov/ND/

That's an open bloody door for the sharks !