Safety Notice SN020–Tail Rotor Used to Turn Main Rotor
It is common practice to use the tail rotor blades of a helicopter to turn the main rotor blades into the desired position.
Under no circumstances should this be done on a Safari.
The gears, bearings, and shafts of the Safari tail rotor are designed to be more than adequate to support the tail rotor blades in operation. The Safari does not use belts to transfer motion to the rotor head.
Consequently, when the tail rotor blades are used to turn the main blades the components of the trail rotor are being used to turn the significant mass of the entire transmission, main rotor head and blades.
This unnecessary stress may fracture the smaller gears in the tail rotor and in the transmission output, which can result in catastrophic failure and loss of tail rotor function.