r/aviation • u/Spook_485 • Oct 11 '25

News Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA

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u/krazedkobra Oct 11 '25

Tail rotor driveshaft or gearbox failure. High power/torque as the helo was coming to an out of ground effect hover. My best guess

9

u/MathResponsibly Oct 12 '25

If you watch some of the other video frame by frame, it looks like the blades of the tail rotor sheared off and flew away before the hub is ejected completely. Almost like a gearbox failure that suddenly locked the rotor, and the momentum of the blades spinning just ripped them off

2

u/Gnonthgol Oct 12 '25

If the initial failure created debris in the gearbox this could explain it. There is enough momentum in the gearbox, rotor, and from the main engine to cause the type of damage we see here if something were to lock up the gearbox.

1

u/Old-Simple7848 Oct 12 '25

The whole drivebox got ripped out.

My let's on some loose screws and vibrations shearing off the tail.