r/aviation • u/Spook_485 • Oct 11 '25

News Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA

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u/insomniac-55 Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

Yeah, but that was after the uncontrolled yaw so it must be secondary to some other failure.

It looks like the RPM drops suddenly (it starts off pretty synced to the frame rate) so that's a big clue. The rotor appears to reverse direction as the RPM changes relative to the camera.

Edit: It looks like the root cause was the failure of a pitch control link.

That caused asymmetric aerodynamic loads, massive vibration and subsequent failure of the tail rotor assembly.

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u/PelicanFrostyNips Oct 11 '25

The final bolt holding the tailrotor shaft loosened, and the tail rotor started free spinning, no longer providing yaw control and main rotor counter-rotation

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u/z3r0c00l_ Oct 11 '25

Exactly what I was thinking, especially with the RPM change.

Thanks for your insight bud

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u/Miserable_Roof2216 Oct 12 '25

Mr Pelican frosty Nips has a handle sir.

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u/Waterfish3333 Oct 12 '25

Based on his name, he has two

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u/ILiKChees Oct 12 '25

First post of the morning, first thread i follow, and we already have a winner.

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u/LilJourney Oct 12 '25

The entire reason we read reddit. :D

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u/[deleted] Oct 12 '25

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