Robinson warns of defective tail rotors

Robinson Helicopter has issued service bulletins warning of potential cracks in the tail rotor blades of on some of its R44 and R66 series helicopters.

Hard copies of the bulletins were sent to owners, operators, and maintenance personnel of the aircraft, and are also available via the Robinson website, and recommends that affected blades are removed from service.

Robinson recommends that in the event of ‘continued operation until blades are replaced, additional pilot preflight inspection is required.’

 The affected tail rotor blades were factory installed on:

• R44 helicopters S/N 2,599 and 2,619
• R44 II helicopters S/N 14,360-14,394, excluding 14,363
• R44 Cadet helicopters S/N 30,064-30,068
• R66 helicopters S/N1,035-1,090, excluding 1,039; 1,067; 1,076; 1,077 and 1,081.

The defective tail rotor blades were also shipped as spares for R44 aircraft between August 2019 and December 2020, and between January-November 2021 for R66 aircraft.

Discounts are available for non-warranty rotor replacements

Robinson says that the fault was discovered after it received reports of R44 tail rotor blades with a ‘spanwise corrosion crack along the leading edge of the blade.’

The company issued a compliance procedure to correct the fault, which requests the insertion of additional preflight checks into the Pilot’s Operating Handbook for all relevant aircraft, and the replacement of all affected rotor blades by 31 December 2022.

Robinson also says that replacement rotor blades will be free for all helicopters or parts under warranty and will be offered at a substantial discount for all non-warranty replacements until 31 December 2022. The discounted price will be US$950, as opposed to the standard list price of $3,350.