We've had our R22 back for a couple of weeks now, and I've flown it 6 times since then. I have one partner who has his PP-RH but doesn't fly much. He went up with our CFI partner Friday, and they practiced autorotations. On the last one, he got the helicopter way out of whack and apparently twisted the throttle away from him instead of towards him. My CFI partner was busy getting the helicopter out of the unusual attitude (and wasn't watching the tach during that), but he suspects that the rotor may have been oversped. He told me that the RPM was in the yellow by the time he recovered from the bad attitude, but now is unsure if the RPM might have been at the red line during the recovery.
I flew it twice after that, but when I returned the R22 to N99 Saturday, my CFI partner was at the airport, and reviewed what had happened with me again, and said that he wasn't going to sleep well until we got the mandatory inspection done (mandatory when there is a rotor overspeed situation).
Since he can't be sure there was no overspeed, we agreed to ground the helicopter (except for hover practice, maybe) until we can get the inspection done.
Grounding the helo sucks, but it's better than having a transmission failure or something. Grrrrrrr.
Sorry about the vent. I just want to go flying, dammit!
I flew it twice after that, but when I returned the R22 to N99 Saturday, my CFI partner was at the airport, and reviewed what had happened with me again, and said that he wasn't going to sleep well until we got the mandatory inspection done (mandatory when there is a rotor overspeed situation).
Since he can't be sure there was no overspeed, we agreed to ground the helicopter (except for hover practice, maybe) until we can get the inspection done.
Grounding the helo sucks, but it's better than having a transmission failure or something. Grrrrrrr.
Sorry about the vent. I just want to go flying, dammit!