Wednesday, March 7, 2012

25. CANADIAN CHINOOK ACCIDENT


The Canadian government purchased 10 Chinook aircraft thru the US Army.  The negotiation for these aircraft went on for nearly 10 years. We prepared the first aircraft and delivered it to the New Cumberland Army Depot.  They were to make some custom changes and it would be picked up from there. This was true for all the Aircraft.

They sent one of their pilots to Ft. Rucker to be Chinook qualified.  He was with us in Flight Test while his aircraft was there but did not fly. When the changes were complete, their crew picked up the aircraft and shortly after departing it came apart and crashed with all killed. 

The Canadians were waiting for the arrival in Canada, high ranking officers and the band waited. A newspaper article is in the inside of the back cover of this book.

After an extensive investigation it was determined that the collector gear in the combining transmission cracked and failed.  That is the primary gear that combines the engines and the rotor transmissions.  The cause of the crack was a piece of slag that was in the steel.

The log that is formed vacuumelt steel to make the gears is X-rayed and defects are some time found in the ends.  If that happens the ends are cut off and rechecked.  This particular log had to be cut several times.  All gear made from this log were located from service and destroyed.

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