Bob Chilcoat wrote:
I was talking to a Sikorsky pilot at our airport about this accident:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...26X01530&key=1

He said that Sikorskys have a "droop lock" in the cockpit that should
prevent the rotor from getting too low. How does this work? Does it leave
a certain amount of positive AOA in the blades so that they "fly" a bit
higher? I was curious.

Talking to my neighbor who runs a large helicopter concession on the Hudson,
and who keeps his ships at Linden (this was not one of his), the line boy
was very tall, and that presumably contributed to the accident. At any
rate, he's very lucky to be alive.

Are you sure he didn't say "droop stop?" Those are centrifugal
weights on springs that keep the blades from flapping too low. In
general, they move between idle and 100% rotor rpm (so the blades
have freedom in flight but are limited to a safe height when you are
idling on the ground, especially when shutting down). When they move
into place, they physically stop the blades from flapping too low,
like putting a wedge in the hinges of a door.

Sometimes they get dirty and don't move when they should...

A few other names for the same or similar devices might be antiflap
restraint, static stop, or something along those lines. I don't know
exactly what they're called on the S-76.