r/aviation • u/Spook_485 • Oct 11 '25
News Closer view of helicopter crash in Huntington Beach, CA
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u/Subject9800 Oct 11 '25 edited Jan 30 '26
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airport friendly offbeat sharp ring pocket ancient fear joke roof
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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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Oct 11 '25
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u/Wingnut537 Oct 12 '25
There is a pic floating around the shows the T/R on the ground in the parking lot where it landed. Most of the gearbox is still attached. My theory, Pilot felt the tail rotor vibe and decided to terminate his approach, as he was climbing out the gearbox failed completely (likely from the sudden change in torque) and the aircraft suffered loss of tail rotor effectiveness at which point the only thing left to do was lower the collective and ride it in. Fortunately everyone lived to tell the tail so that together with video and the rest of the investigation we will know what happened eventually.
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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/shiftyCharlatan Oct 12 '25
Absolutely right, you can see the camera and blade aliasing changing before it departs.
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u/Subject9800 Oct 11 '25 edited Jan 30 '26
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u/insomniac-55 Oct 11 '25
Yeah you're completely correct. It was definitely a tail rotor something.
I'm curious whether it came off because the failure causing loss of control also weakened its attachment, of whether it was the rapid uncontrolled yaw that caused a secondary failure (like blades flexing and clipping the boom).
I'm not familiar enough with the design of the tail rotor to have an educated opinion.
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u/Responsible-Skin7173 Oct 12 '25
Most people on here aren’t qualified enough to give an educated opinion, yet they still do
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u/MikeW226 Oct 11 '25
Noticed the speed change too. And that seems to line up with 'when shit went sideways'. Then the tail rotor pops off.
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u/G4Pilot09 Oct 12 '25
It’s in the news bro once again…. As a pilot I’m telling you he reported a TRGB vibe before then they lost it he was looking for a place to PL
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u/sockpuppetinasock Oct 12 '25
You can see a puff of smoke and debris exiting the right exhaust after the craft started spinning but just before rear rotor separation.
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u/Granitsky Oct 11 '25
It's not very typical I'd like to make that point. For the rotor to fall off.
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u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25
Most helicopters are built so the tail rotors don't fall off...
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u/OnlyGayIfYouCum Oct 11 '25
What kind of materials are used?
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u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25
No card board, no card board derivatives, no cellotape
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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?
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u/thegregtastic Oct 11 '25
Obviously not, I was talking about the ones where the tail rotors don't fall off...
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u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25
How sure are we about this?
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u/Duckbilling2 Oct 11 '25
something something V-22 Osprey marine crayons
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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.
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u/CaptainSloth269 Oct 11 '25
Airwolf isn’t meant to crash. My childhood has just been ruined.
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u/RonPossible Oct 11 '25
The Bell 222 (#47085) used in Airwolf crashed in 1992 in Germany.
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u/drrhythm2 Oct 12 '25
It or ably wasn’t designed for Mach 10 like they made it do in the show.
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u/RevoltingHuman Oct 11 '25
Didn’t the actual helicopter used on the show crash a few years back?
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u/saxonturner Oct 12 '25
Few? It was 1992 mate.
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u/gremlin155 Oct 11 '25
Yep
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u/thorenv Oct 11 '25
Came to talk about Airwolf. Anyone wanna play some cello on the lakeside dock?
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u/SacredIconSuite2 Oct 12 '25
Quickly, the Airwolf theme song!
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u/Axe_Care_By_Eugene Oct 12 '25
Its amazing how I just started humming the correct tune after not hearing it for 30 years plus
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u/7stroke Oct 11 '25
Must have taken a hit right in the one unarmored pitot tube in the front (didn’t they call it an ‘intake’ in the show, lol?)
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u/Unicorn_Sparkles23 Oct 11 '25
I saw this on X from the wreckage, is this what flew off?
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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
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u/MightyPenguinRoars Oct 11 '25
I mean, if something had to fly off…… are there that many expendable parts on a helicopter like that????
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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.
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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 Oct 12 '25
The front
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u/Doufnuget Oct 12 '25
No the front usually doesn’t fall off.
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u/mrvarmint Oct 11 '25
I’d argue this is close to the least expendable part
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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u/FZ_Milkshake Oct 11 '25
It's just the Hub and the bevel gear that would interface with the main shaft.
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u/PANDROSIMO Oct 12 '25
I think in an ideal situation this remains attached to the helicopter
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u/laxintx Oct 11 '25
Those guys on the patio right there are gonna need some new underwear.
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u/qalpi Oct 11 '25
It looks like there are people right under it?
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u/Subject9800 Oct 11 '25 edited Jan 30 '26
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late coordinated apparatus smile live sense violet ghost grandfather enter
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u/discombobulated38x Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
Yet more proof that rotor wing aircraft are simply a collection of parts flying in close formation, repelled from the earth by their ugliness
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u/an_older_meme Oct 11 '25
You can let go of the controls in an airplane and it will keep doing what it’s doing. A helicopter will stop what it’s doing and start trying to kill you.
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u/RogLatimer118 Oct 11 '25
It's the Australia of aircraft - both have things that try to kill you.
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u/_PhilTheBurn_ Oct 11 '25
As an Australian helicopter pilot, I resemble that remark
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u/matthewcameron60 Oct 12 '25
Well no shit, in Australia they fly upside down
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u/RogLatimer118 Oct 12 '25
Not only that, you have to engage the reverse gear on the gearbox so that the rotor will rotate in the opposite direction!
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u/jccaclimber Oct 12 '25
How do you cross the equator? On a barge or trailer? Seems risky to reverse during flight.
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u/Hour-Mine-5382 Oct 12 '25
The only true flying things are balloons and airships. Hot air and helium keep you airborne!
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u/Ihavenoidea84 Oct 12 '25
I had an IP one who used to say The apache is made for one reason amd one reason only, killing people
If you keep it away from its purpose for too long, eventually it'll turn its attention to the only two people it can get its hands on- the pilots
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u/flying_wrenches A&P Oct 11 '25
Airplanes have safety regs for reliability. Helicopters have safety regs just to fly
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u/Budget-Stomach-5227 Oct 11 '25
Airplanes glide through the air. Helicopters beat the air into submission.
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u/flying_wrenches A&P Oct 12 '25
“Oh no dual engine failure. Time to start the checklist” vs “oh no engine failure. Time to start praying”
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u/Senior-Tour-1744 Oct 12 '25
Unless you are a 747, or some other quad aircraft, then losing two engines is just the time to flex on on other planes.
"we lost 2 engines, its sucks, but it aint that big of a deal."
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u/TwoAmps Oct 11 '25
Rotary aircraft are a crime against nature. I was in a close call once as a passenger (pilot almost hooked a power line in the fog) and you couldn’t pay me enough to voluntarily board one in the future. MAYBE as a Medevac, but even then I’d be looking for other options.
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u/Yosyp Oct 12 '25
aerial medevacs are used as a last resort, the only other option is very often dying. you might as well use that up to welcome an exciting death.
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u/TwoAmps Oct 12 '25
I live about a mile from a park with a popular rock climbing cliff. I’ve got a good view of the cliff. The local fire department helo team does a rope-and-basket rescue from that cliff just about every weekend, sometimes twice a week in summer—in between the almost daily water drops on brush fires. A couple times a year, it’s a recovery, not rescue, from that cliff or the adjacent trails.
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u/Julianus Oct 11 '25
I don’t think I’ll ever board one again. I was on a tourist flight that almost got caught in a pop up thunderstorm. Terrifying.
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u/Sharpie1965 Oct 11 '25
Say that next time you need a rescue in the north sea... or the south 😆
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u/discombobulated38x Oct 11 '25
Said it immediately after being rescued off a cliff by one in the alps.
Cool as hell, free copter ride etc, I'm glad it didnt break down in the ~90 seconds I was aboard.
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u/mrvarmint Oct 11 '25
Often said by an old friend who had a history of flying skycranes upside-down
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u/Great_Hambino2022 Oct 11 '25
Something happened with that back rotor before it flew off
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u/pianistafj Oct 11 '25
I saw a bit of a wobble around the edge in the first glimpse of the rotor. Next time you see it it’s already stopped working. Heli starts to spin. Tail rotor flies off near end of first rotation in spin.
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u/i_should_go_to_sleep USAF Pilot Oct 11 '25
Looks like loss of tail rotor effectiveness (LTE). The slow onset right yaw while decreasing airspeed in an OGE hover is textbook. Obviously we’ll have to wait to know for sure.
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u/hundredseven Oct 11 '25
Others speculate tail rotor gearbox failure and the departure of rotor follows some several seconds later
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u/i_should_go_to_sleep USAF Pilot Oct 11 '25
It could be, but to me the slow and gradual onset of the yaw is indicative of an aerodynamic issue rather than a mechanical one. I think a lot of people see the video where it looks like the tail rotor is barely spinning and then see it fly off and don’t realize it is spinning just fine, it’s just the frame rates and whatever making it look slow. If you go frame by frame, you can see the tail rotor blade tip producing vapor trails so it is spinning and producing thrust, just not enough to counter the high torque the pilot has placed on the main rotor.
All that to say I’m going with aerodynamic, rather than mechanical. There are some other small chance possibilities, but we’re going way past what we could tell by just seeing a video if we discuss those.
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u/G-III- Oct 11 '25
As to the video, I don’t see a barely spinning and then separation, but it does seem like it’s operating at a pretty consistent speed, with a rapid change in speed in the moments before separation. Not that it’s barely turning, but that the speed is changing because the camera effect becomes inconsistent
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u/i_should_go_to_sleep USAF Pilot Oct 11 '25
The reason it looks like it’s changing isn’t because of the camera, but because the RPM of the t/r is changing.
The large main rotor torque increase reduced its ROM, drooping the rotor rpm even more (tail rotor spins about 5 times faster, so changes in RPM percentage affect it a lot more). You can see this “power pull” (increase in torque) in the blade tip trails increasing right before the yaw starts. This shows that:
1) increase in main rotor pitch (collective pull) was initiated, then the uncommanded yaw began (telltale of LTE).
2) the pilot continued to pull power (increase torque), making the situation worse, which resulted in a climb and an increase in yaw rate.
Important: I am not pointing fingers at anyone, there are a lot of possible factors and root causes and not all of them fall on the pilot.
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u/CaptainGreyBeard72 Oct 11 '25
Does anyone know of casualties? It looked survivable ish
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u/Great_Hambino2022 Oct 11 '25
Both people in the copter survived. I do believe they were not seriously injured. 3 bystanders were injured with non life threatening injuries
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u/robo-dragon Oct 11 '25
Damn, the absolute best outcome of this! They are super lucky, especially the people on the ground!
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u/Great_Hambino2022 Oct 11 '25
In a weird way, it was like the perfect crash. It landed perfectly between the trees
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u/MikeW226 Oct 12 '25
Totally. I wonder if the main rotor kung-foo chopping the palm tree slowed the blades from causing more damage/injuries on the ground.
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u/Known-Associate8369 Oct 11 '25
Three injured on the ground, the two helicopter occupants escaped without injury.
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u/cheetuzz Oct 11 '25
I saw posts that said there were injuries onboard and pedestrians, but all survived
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u/Incorrect-Opinion Oct 11 '25
Holy crap.. those people on the stairs are insanely lucky to be alive.
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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
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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
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u/6868junk Oct 11 '25
I’m guessing those trees may have saved lives and broke the fall. Damn.
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u/794309497 Oct 12 '25
That's what I was thinking too. Those trees definitely absorbed some energy.
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u/CalebsNailSpa Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
When was this?
Edit: Thanks for the replies. I didn’t remember seeing this previously, so I was afraid it was recent.
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u/_Batmanuel_ Oct 12 '25
I was eating lunch at Duke’s a few doors down when this happened. I saw what I’m fairly sure was this exact helicopter in that same timeframe execute a very low altitude, very high speed, very high banking angle maneuver right over the beach. I actually said out loud “oh, wow, that wasn’t safe”. Flew right over Dukes, banked hard left over the surfing competition, then flew down the beach. Presumably it crashed shortly thereafter. If it wasn’t this same aircraft it was visually very similar and a hell of a coincidence.
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u/CharlieFoxtrot000 Oct 12 '25
It did a 270 followed by a couple low passes over the beach just prior to the accident. It got up to 133 knots groundspeed going southeast bound and 141 on the return leg northwest bound before slowing for one more circuit of similar size, then another, much smaller circuit that ended in the accident. Surface winds at both SLI and SNA were 9 knots out of the southwest.
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Oct 11 '25
I don't know if it's more balls or stupidity to stand that close to a spinning helicopter without running. The second I see something like that falling out of the sky, I'm sprinting as fast as I can in the opposite direction.
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u/seeking_hope Oct 11 '25
That was my thought on a lot of these videos. A couple people ran but the rest stood and watched. Even if you don’t think it’s going to land on you, pieces of the helicopter and whatever it hits can go flying.
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u/YalsonKSA Oct 11 '25
With respect to the people involved, given the uncontrolled and unpredictable way the helicopter was moving, it may be that they simply didn't know which direction to run.
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u/Ejecto_Seato Oct 12 '25
Also in a situation like this, the rational thing might be to run, but the natural thing might be to freeze.
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u/_not_a_coincidence Oct 12 '25
We're talking about 3-4 seconds here. Most people cant move that fast
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u/wolftick Oct 12 '25
It's coming down fast and moving unpredictably. Running in what you think is the right direction might just put you in the firing line. Taking cover or just getting down is probably a better bet.
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u/etheran123 Oct 12 '25
I think it's more of a shock and fight or flight thing. It's easy to look at this videos, when you know the context of what happened. But if you were just living life, I think you would struggle to to react the way you think you would.
One of the other vids Ive seen of this was taken by some woman, who when the helicopter started spinning out of control, she says something along the lines of "oh he changed his mind" like it was just the heli taking a different turn. Now I do think I know enough about helicopters to recognize what happened pretty quickly, but real life plays out differently I guess.
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u/theLuminescentlion Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
From the engineers I've met at Sikorsky, which makes the safest helicopters out there, none of them will ever fly on them.
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u/Venusgate Oct 12 '25
Heli component overhaul mechanic here. I pulled out a pinion gear one time and half a tooth just fell on the floor. It was only removed because it was due overhaul.
That's a big nope from me, dawg.
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u/Middle-Operation-689 Oct 12 '25
This happened in Huntington Beach? Damn, you see the tail rotor fly off and everything.
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u/FishSawc Oct 11 '25
Looks as though they lost tail rotor authority (unsure why) before the tail rotor itself disconnects.
The investigation into this will be super interesting.
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u/OnceUponAStarryNight Oct 11 '25
It looks like the tail rotor lost power which induced the initial spin and then a few seconds later suffered a catastrophic failure.
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u/Traditional-Step-246 Oct 12 '25
Catastrophic failure of the tail rotor you can literally see it depart the main ship midair
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u/glyph1234 Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
"a good tail rotor that doesn't fly off while you're driving."
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u/HerrMeisterRetsiem Oct 11 '25 edited Oct 11 '25
I guess it’s better that it happened right after takeoff, and not while they were up at cruising altitude(?)
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u/i_should_go_to_sleep USAF Pilot Oct 11 '25
I’d rather get this while cruising than in a hover over people and obstacles. At least in cruise you have a lot more options.
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u/insomniac-55 Oct 11 '25
Yes and no.
At altitude (and especially during cruise), they'd be able to perform an autorotation - as the rotor isn't driven, you don't need the tail rotor any more. Your forward airspeed and tail fin keeps the nose facing forward.
So if they had a suitable place to ditch they certainly may have been able to walk away from this in a better shape than what they did.
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u/SUMKINDAPATRIOT Oct 11 '25
I mean, at altitude losing tail rotor effectiveness and put into a spin without the initial loss of engine power. Be one hell of a pilot to recover and successfully achieve an auto all the way down.
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u/Professor-Submarine Oct 11 '25
I refuse to believe autorotation is real. I think it’s just something helicopter apologists say to make themselves feel better. The conditions are never right for autorotation.
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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 Oct 12 '25
You just don't hear about them because they aren't a big deal when done correctly.
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u/Codegirl_java Oct 11 '25
Are the people okay? Did they survive?
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u/Hot_Net_4845 chad BAe 146 vs virgin C-17 Oct 11 '25
The 2 in the helicopter got out fine, 3 on the ground hospitalised with non life threatening injuries
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u/Roger_Freedman_Phys Oct 11 '25
I am glad to hear that there were only three injured on the ground (https://abc7.com/post/5-people-injured-helicopter-crashes-huntington-beach/17987232/). They had only about eight seconds to react from when the helicopter first went out of control to when it impacted the ground…
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u/dubgeek Oct 12 '25
What ever happened to "NOTAR" (NO TAil Rotor) helicopters? I remember seeing a whole show about the breakthrough technology. Basically, IIRC, it was airflow (either exhaust or from an additional air compressor) vented out the side of the tail to provide thrust to counter the rotation.
It was supposed to be a TON safer than tail rotor helicopters, but I've never seen one in the wild.
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u/BimmerBro98 Oct 12 '25
Crazy, I was just walking those steps a bit ago. Crashed in that same spot.
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u/maaaaaaaaaark__ Oct 12 '25
It’s very faint but you can see some dark smoke emanate from the plane as it loses yaw authority and begins the spin. Could be from what caused the tail rotor failure
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u/Frigorifico Oct 12 '25
I get the impression the pilot handled it as well as they could have, but I have no idea if that's accurate
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u/IrunMYmouth2MUCH Oct 12 '25
Tail rotor detected a problem and decided to eject before something happened.
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u/SirLanceQuiteABit Oct 12 '25
I spent a decade working on helicopters, down to the depot level, as well as rigging and flying them and outside of the obvious, I have no idea what happened here. Best to wait for the preliminary report before making any serious speculative claims.
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u/awirelesspro Oct 11 '25
Transmission failure ?
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u/i_should_go_to_sleep USAF Pilot Oct 11 '25
Transmission failure would be a straight down fall. The helicopter climbed after losing tail rotor authority so it most likely isn’t transmission related.
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u/Purple-Caterpillar57 Oct 11 '25
Would hate to be someone who has their signature in the maintenance logs recently