Narrative:

After the 100 hour scheduled maintenance was complete; the aircraft was returned to service and the pilot took the aircraft to reposition it to its assigned base when the in flight incident occurred. The aft tail rotor drive shaft cowling dislodged itself from the aircraft and struck the main blue blade and then contacted the tail rotors; the pilot landed. Then maintenance was notified. The airworthiness check that was performed on the aircraft during the 100 hour maintenance should be required to be done after maintenance so that any possible loose fasteners would be seen and dealt with prior to the aircraft returned to service.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After the 100 hour scheduled maintenance service and while on a ferry flight to its base; a tail rotor drive shaft cowling came off striking the main and tail rotors of an AS350.

Narrative: After the 100 hour scheduled maintenance was complete; the aircraft was returned to service and the pilot took the aircraft to reposition it to its assigned base when the in flight incident occurred. The aft tail rotor drive shaft cowling dislodged itself from the aircraft and struck the Main blue blade and then contacted the tail rotors; the pilot landed. Then maintenance was notified. The Airworthiness Check that was performed on the aircraft during the 100 hour maintenance should be required to be done after maintenance so that any possible loose fasteners would be seen and dealt with prior to the aircraft returned to service.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.