4 hours ago
Yesterday I was providing a client with refresher training in his 2010 Talon. As we were flying we suddenly lost yaw control and immediately lowered the collective to reduce torque and set it down safely. The helicopter has 350 hours on it with the VPS engine so the tail rotor shaft and Universal joints also have 350 hours on them.
On inspection we found that the front universal joint
![[Image: IMG-5351.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/Kc2Y7p54/IMG-5351.jpg)
had broken due to lack of grease. There was a ring of fresh grease around the inside of the tail boom that was not present before the flight. The grease was retained inside of the orange silicone sleeve but was not in the universal joint at all which was running dry as you can see from the photo. The center pivot of the U joint is frozen solid and will not move. We are making this a 250 hour replacement item as there is no way to inspect the internal lubrication of these joints.
On inspection we found that the front universal joint
had broken due to lack of grease. There was a ring of fresh grease around the inside of the tail boom that was not present before the flight. The grease was retained inside of the orange silicone sleeve but was not in the universal joint at all which was running dry as you can see from the photo. The center pivot of the U joint is frozen solid and will not move. We are making this a 250 hour replacement item as there is no way to inspect the internal lubrication of these joints.