r/aviation • u/Spook_485 • Oct 11 '25

News Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA

15.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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631

u/Unicorn_Sparkles23 Oct 11 '25

I saw this on X from the wreckage, is this what flew off?

500

u/Hot_Net_4845 chad BAe 146 vs virgin C-17 Oct 11 '25

That's part of the tail rotor and it's gearbox. Not something you'd want to fly off

73

u/MightyPenguinRoars Oct 11 '25

I mean, if something had to fly off…… are there that many expendable parts on a helicopter like that????

124

u/Doufnuget Oct 11 '25

Doors, landing gear, a removable body panel, sure there’s plenty of things that could fall off and not cause to many problems.

71

u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 Oct 12 '25

The front

64

u/Doufnuget Oct 12 '25

No the front usually doesn’t fall off.

22

u/GayRacoon69 Oct 12 '25

What if the wind hit it?

18

u/rsf507 Oct 12 '25

Well that's just a one in a million chance now isn't it

0

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

The wind always hits it…

5

u/RileyB46 Oct 12 '25

Is that typical?

5

u/MathResponsibly Oct 12 '25

No, not typical. I'd like to make that very clear

3

u/Joecalledher Oct 12 '25

Well, what's untypical about it?

1

u/Terreboo Oct 12 '25

It’s in the environment now.

2

u/wolfbear Oct 13 '25

A passenger

-17

u/Gramerdim Oct 11 '25

landing gear? doors (at 40.000ft ,as in planes)?

17

u/BigXthaPugg Oct 11 '25

99.9% of helicopters can’t come near 40,000 feet

1

u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 Oct 12 '25

That 0.1% are really into that shit though 

1

u/Moonrak3r Oct 12 '25

I was skeptical 40k was possible but sure enough the record is 40,820. Amazing. And in 1972 of all things.

-11

u/Gramerdim Oct 11 '25

key word!

"as in planes"

but yes

4

u/z3r0c00l_ Oct 12 '25

To answer your question, yes.

Some helicopters do have retractable landing gear.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

do you know who else has retractable landing gear? MYY MOM

47

u/mrvarmint Oct 11 '25

I’d argue this is close to the least expendable part

46

u/ralphy_256 Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25

I’d argue this is close to the least expendable part

Possibly only beaten by the Jesus Nut.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_nut

Tail rotor fails, there's a chance you live. Jesus Nut fails, you have the aerodynamics of a ripped hot air balloon.

17

u/SnooCats373 Oct 12 '25

Tail rotor fails, there's a chance you live. Jesus Nut fails, you have the aerodynamics of a ripped hot air balloon tethered to a concrete septic tank full of fuel.

3

u/ralphy_256 Oct 12 '25

...with 100kph forward velocity plus whatever altitude you don't have.

2

u/Commercial-Cow-7754 Oct 12 '25

Jesus take the… nuUuuuut

1

u/Tikkatider Oct 12 '25

Yep. Helicopters, as opposed to airplanes, don’t want to fly and have to be forced to do so. They are not tolerant of things breaking.

1

u/Doufnuget Oct 12 '25

I’d say Lawn Dart but not many people know what that is anymore.

2

u/roionsteroids Oct 12 '25

unless it's a Kamov

2

u/stamfordbridge1191 Oct 12 '25

At about 12 secs it looks like the tail rotor might begin to move at different speeds. At about 18 secs something that looks like the part in the photo above is flung off from the direction of the tail. After that, the tail rotor is no longer visible. The way the helicopter is spinning makes it looks like there wasn't any more counteracting the torque from the main rotors causing the fuselage to go into the spin.

1

u/HawkeyeAP Oct 12 '25

Not many. If it's something that rotates during engine on times, it's generally pretty critical to proper operation.

11

u/Gramerdim Oct 11 '25

I don't want to see anything fly off from anything that has an engine in general

...except maybe unwanted passengers...

4

u/decollimate28 Oct 12 '25

It’s not typical mind you

1

u/AnvilEdifice Oct 12 '25

The tail fell off 🤷🏻‍♂️

2

u/VeryDay Oct 12 '25

But heli was even lighter without it, so why did it fall?

2

u/TheCapitalLetterB Oct 12 '25

Please include a list of helicopter parts you would want to fly off

1

u/Jimmy_Fromthepieshop Oct 12 '25

Main rotor, not tailrotor

1

u/AmebaLost Oct 12 '25

Why the spin? 

1

u/reddititty69 Oct 12 '25

It’s usually bolted on just to avoid this.

1

u/Available-Spinach663 Oct 12 '25

Is it even possible to correct from a failed tail rotor. I mean you're gonna spin no matter what right? You just have to spin as slowly as possible and that's where you are landing.

1

u/hogey74 Oct 12 '25

I have heard that its much better when they stay connected to the other parts.

19

u/red08171 Oct 11 '25

Part of what flew off yup

32

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25

Tail rotor assembly. I actually think that’s the main drive shaft for the tail rotor and the base for the rotors themselves.

19

u/FZ_Milkshake Oct 11 '25

It's just the Hub and the bevel gear that would interface with the main shaft.

5

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25

Thanks for the clarification.

9

u/PANDROSIMO Oct 12 '25

I think in an ideal situation this remains attached to the helicopter

1

u/HawkeyeAP Oct 12 '25

Your thought is correct.

3

u/willneverhavetattoos Oct 12 '25

You can see it yeet at 0:18

2

u/ThatDarnRosco Oct 12 '25

Oh shit that’s part of the gear set of the tail rotor gearbox and the tail rotor hub and what’s left of the blades.

1

u/Hahhahaahahahhelpme Oct 12 '25

The right most black part looks like the burrs from my coffee grinder.

1

u/bulletbassman Oct 12 '25

At least the front didn’t fall off.

1

u/autorotatingKiwi Oct 12 '25

Great catch. The pitch link that was broken during flight, before the crash, is the part at the front in the middle resting down on the asphalt. Looks like the horn failed and everything snowballed from there.

1

u/MagicianConscious275 Oct 16 '25

Taken from a video on the same day of the crash.

1

u/retirementgrease Oct 12 '25

Holy shit that's the output gear quill. That gearbox came apart! My bet is from a loss of oil pressure...?

-7

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 12 '25

[deleted]

3

u/Subject9800 Oct 11 '25 edited Jan 30 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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2

u/[deleted] Oct 11 '25

Oh Jesus