:smack:Once upon a time, a 269-C was parked in a farmer’s field. One blade was tied down to the tail boom. Along comes the farmer in a pick up truck, hauling a haywagon with 2 X 4 stakes, 10 feet high at rear of wagon. Farmer drives by the 269-C too close and one stake hits the leading edge of a prodruding blade, 18 inches inboard from tip. The clutch is of course disengaged. The rotor head rotates in reverse until the struck blade finally clears the stake. Meanwhile, the tied down blade is pushed back in it’s tie down sock until the struck blade has cleared the haywagon stake. Witness says copter doesn’t move, only one tail rotor blade observed turning.
What is your opinion as to nature and extent of damage to drive train? Tail boom? airframe? rear canopy?
Sort of like the question - guy gets hit by farmer on tractorhauling haywagon. Only 2 tires go over him. What’s your opinion of damage to guy?
My guess rotor blades are not designed to be dinged. Who knows (unless you are an expert) whether the blade hinges are bent, or the pins holding the blade are cracked?
There are only 2 ways to answer your question. One involves a qualified mechanic, the other only requires a pilot. If anything is damaged, it should become obvious in the next few thousand hours of flight time.
The whole rotor assembly moves from being struck. was the rotor that was tied down flexed? Was the rotor that was struck dinged? If it’s a solid core rotor it sounds like a bird strike to me.
I second an A&P mechanic checking it out. I’d want to know if the crank is bent or rotor damaged from bending and being struck. You can map out how much rotation was involved with a linear movement against the blade 18 inches in. that would be a good start for a discussion with the mechanic.