Rotorcraft
MGB component failure eyed in fatal Cougar crash
As Sikorsky prepares to deliver its 100th medium-lift, twin-engine S-92A, the role main rotor vibration and other past problems with the helicopter’s main

As Sikorsky prepares to deliver its 100th medium-lift, twin-engine S-92A, the role main rotor vibration and other past problems with the helicopter’s main rotor gearbox (MGB) played in the fatal crash of a Cougar Helicopters S-92 off Newfoundland on March 12 remains under study by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB).

However, over the last several years some flight crews have been complaining privately about high blade loading when the four-blade S-92 is flown at high gross weight. They have also expressed concerns about component durability when the helicopters are repeatedly subjected to these loads. At least one of those components on the crashed Cougar helicopter, the main gearbox oil bowl mounting studs, failed.

Loading…