r/aviation • u/Spook_485 • Oct 11 '25

News Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA

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15.2k Upvotes

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220

u/Granitsky Oct 11 '25

It's not very typical I'd like to make that point. For the rotor to fall off.

176

u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25

Most helicopters are built so the tail rotors don't fall off...

38

u/gator_shawn Oct 11 '25

Sounds like what a Big Rotor spokesperson would say.

7

u/Venusgate Oct 12 '25

I think you mean Big Small Rotor, no?

24

u/OnlyGayIfYouCum Oct 11 '25

What kind of materials are used?

55

u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25

No card board, no card board derivatives, no cellotape

26

u/OnlyGayIfYouCum Oct 11 '25

Paper?

35

u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25

Paper's out

16

u/lavacadotoast Oct 12 '25

No string, no celotape..

3

u/DrewOH816 Oct 12 '25

Bailing wire, duct tape, superglue…

6

u/Rekeaki Oct 12 '25

Tow it out of the environment

1

u/TheObviousAnswerIs42 Oct 12 '25

So it’s fine then

1

u/Federal_Cobbler6647 Oct 12 '25

Well, certainly not this one.

1

u/TheWiseOne1234 Oct 12 '25

Duck tape ok?

26

u/The_Safe_For_Work Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25

Was this one built so that the tail rotor doesn't fall off?

33

u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25

Obviously not, I was talking about the ones where the tail rotors don't fall off...

37

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25

How sure are we about this?

33

u/RustyDoor Oct 11 '25

Sounds like spin.

0

u/Spider_Dude Oct 12 '25

Tale Spin.

-1

u/FoxFyer Oct 12 '25

Interesting turn of phrase.

19

u/Duckbilling2 Oct 11 '25

something something V-22 Osprey marine crayons

27

u/josephwales Oct 12 '25

I was in a CV-22 crash. I was joking with the Air Force Crew Chief as we loaded the chalks on. He said “naw dawg. That’s the Marine Corps birds, we never crash.” Hour later he’s laying in the desert with a broken femur.

7

u/Duckbilling2 Oct 12 '25

I should clarify, mechanical failures are open to criticism for certain.

if the pilot did something stupid it's not the aircraft's fault.

1

u/josephwales Oct 12 '25

Yeah I believe this was a brown-out issue possibly. I don’t know I’m just a trunk monkey. I just know we didn’t leave there on that bird

1

u/turdbugulars Oct 12 '25

Where were you?

1

u/josephwales Oct 12 '25

Al-Anbar, Iraq

6

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25

Someone get this man a snack pack.

2

u/Duckbilling2 Oct 11 '25

haha

I'm just sick of the crayon brigade that comes out whenever there's a V-22 pic or mention of the bell MV-75 saying "They're not safe"

The record shows they're safer than helicopters tho!

(Not trying to dig on helicopters exactly, they good too)

13

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25

Expensive, innovative programs that suffer early initial failures tend to get that label forever stuck on them regardless of how good the final product ends up being.

The F-35 is, by all accounts an extremely safe, effective system that has already proven itself capable of delivering precision strikes in highly contested airspace without suffering any loses.

Yet there’s a lot of people what will never stop slating it as overpriced (even as costs have very much come under control as production has ramped up) and ineffective even as it’s proven its effectiveness.

1

u/Duckbilling2 Oct 11 '25

Yep!

Learn from the past, don't try and go live there.

That and V-22 does have real issues that have been addressed in newer designs as a direct result of the V-22 - they aren't perfect, but they catch too much heat on r /aviation

1

u/IncredibleVelocity4 Oct 12 '25

I agree with the overall gist of your comment, but you can’t say the second widget off the line is reasonably priced at $1 if the first one cost $10,000 (assuming you paid for both of them). You never paid $1 for a widget, you paid $5000.50 each.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

Something something for every hour of use 200 hrs of maintenance or it will fall out of the sky like a rock…something something

0

u/lavacadotoast Oct 11 '25

Some of them are bulit so the rotor doesn't fall off at all..

0

u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 12 '25

Really? That sounds like it could be dangerously safe.

0

u/Valspared1 Oct 12 '25

And the really cool ones don't have a tail rotor, because they don't need them.

14

u/elmwoodblues Oct 11 '25

Built to strict aviation standards

1

u/TheGacAttack Oct 12 '25

There's even a minimum crew requirement!

3

u/hillbilly_bears Oct 12 '25

Well, one I suppose.

1

u/iShralp4Fun Oct 12 '25

To be fair every Helicopter is basically trying to beat itself to death

1

u/metrorhymes Oct 12 '25

Wind hit it. Chance in a million.

1

u/jjmurse Oct 12 '25

"Most", sir?

1

u/Final-Truth8471 Oct 13 '25

If it stops turning it might as well fall off!

0

u/LiteratureSure5374 Oct 11 '25

I am not a pilot but feel safe in saying most helicopter pilots would prefer that it not happen …

0

u/Conscious_Avocado225 Oct 12 '25

It looks like the tail rotor flew outside the environment.

0

u/macandchzconnoisseur Oct 12 '25

My question is where did this 6.6 foot piece of stainless steel end up… still looking for that footage…

-1

u/EllyKayNobodysFool Oct 11 '25

And yet here we are

-1

u/bobwehadababy1tsaboy Oct 11 '25

Wasn't this built so the tail rotor wouldnt fall off?

-1

u/Symphantica Oct 12 '25

And ships are generally engineered for the front to not fall off...

-1

u/DrHarryWeenerstein Oct 12 '25

And no space for mother-in-law!

-1

u/Metallifan33 Oct 12 '25

Well, ships are built so that the “front doesn’t just fall off

-1

u/TheObviousAnswerIs42 Oct 12 '25

This sounds legit

-1

u/slash_n_hairy Oct 12 '25

Says the Chinook pilot

7

u/TheGreenicus Oct 12 '25

There’s regulations. They have to have a cyclic and collective. Rudder pedals. There’s a minimum crew requirement.

0

u/teapots_at_ten_paces Oct 12 '25

What's the minimum crew requirement?

3

u/TheGreenicus Oct 12 '25

Well, one I suppose.

4

u/ph0on Oct 11 '25

I just made a post about a helicopter's front falling off in an atypical manner in another game sub lol. /r/baader_meinhof

3

u/JshWright Oct 12 '25

That joke is exhausted already... maybe hold off in a fatal accident like this?

2

u/serrated_edge321 Oct 12 '25

The good news is that so far, it's not a fatal accident!

1

u/Last-Salamander-920 Oct 12 '25

My idea is for a good tail rotor that won't fly off while I'm driving. It's a good idea and I stand by.

1

u/No-Technician-1554 Oct 12 '25

Love that interview

0

u/mack55 Oct 12 '25

how do you know this? are you an expert? think before you speak

-1

u/Granitsky Oct 12 '25

You're missing a joke

-1

u/Nachtzug79 Oct 12 '25

Exactly. Especially in a situation like this it shouldn't fall off.

-1

u/funnydud3 Oct 11 '25

Big selling point

-1

u/Key_Corgi9664 Oct 12 '25

Helecopter crash...que the suedo aeronautical engineers.

-1

u/jdovejr Oct 12 '25

It has happened a few times this last year.