Any old (or young) Bell 214ST guys out there?

[Chairmanofthebored]

If you are, I would like to ask a question.

Taxing the 214ST on wheels. What is your technique, did you have any frights or tips for a pilot new to the type. I have driven wheeled 76's for a couple of thousand hours in the past and seem to be getting some differing opinions on how to ground taxi the ST.

Thanks...

[griffothefog]

Technical way of taxying a 214st?? No worries mate, it taxi's itself without raising the collective!! Those big blades need no encouragement to get forward..:eek:

Unlike the more modern types (139) you can steer it with the cyclic and lean into the turns.

It has a very wide spread, so it is almost impossible to flip it over unless you are very ham fisted. :=

Great machine from the dark ages :ok:

[fijdor]

I only flew the ST on skids and I know for sure that you will need a bit of collective to get it to go and it doesn't steer really well ;):ouch:

JD

[Chairmanofthebored]

Thanks guys. I know with the 76's that you need to lead into the turn with the cyclic to prevent roll over and with a quartering or abeam wind. They are telling me here not to do that. I think pulling collective to get moving is unloading the aircraft from the squat position and begging for trouble.

Any other tips with the aircraft type? I know all about the Canadian incidents - I'm more looking for the good oil on operating one everyday. Did anyone do any operation in severe cold? Say -20 deg or less?

Cheers

[Foggy Bottom]

Not certified for it, but the ST will carry a lot of ice!! At -30 the nodals will freeze in about 20 seconds on the ground and take forever to warm up afterwards. Hope you have strong fillings..

[speds]

With care. Keep the rotor disc tip path plane level with the horizon and steer with pedals and its perfectly safe.

Aerodynamic braking (holding the nose wheel off with a medium collective power setting during a running landing) also works well with the nose wheel locked.

We sold one from Oman to Saudi Arabia in the 90s. An inexperienced crew rolled it on its side while taxiing into dispersal in its new home. The captain had plenty of hours on the 214B with skids but none on the ST with Wheels was distracted (filling the tech log?) and unable to move quickly enough to prevent his copilot applying too much lateral cyclic and collective together with wheels on the ground! Aircraft was totalled and ground taxying subsequently banned in the ops manual.

Great machine. Enjoy

[Chairmanofthebored]

Excellent info. Thanks very much for your insights. I'm rather impressed with the aircraft. I'll adhere to that taxying information and avoid any cyclic at all and worry about the nodal issue when winter comes! ;)

[Bigbadbell]

I heard two ST's have been lost in Afghanistan in the last month. Anybody hear anymore info on these?

[Chairmanofthebored]

Speechless Two,

A pleasure to chat with you. The ST I'm flying is an ex-Bristow machine G - BKFN.
Would you or any of your collegues have any particular information on this particular airframe?

Here's to Lu - preserved in cyberspace...
Regards.

[Chairmanofthebored]

Look what I found. Good 'ol PPRUNE.
For those who are interested here is the best of the last discussion on the ST.

G-BKFN of British Caledonian Helicopters at Inverness, Scotland in 1983. Spent 17 years flying the 214ST including this particular one - it's presently with Bristow in Aberdeen. The ST is one of the few helicopters to have ditched (1985 or 86) in the North Sea and to be put back into service. Basically the collective system fractured with a hell of a bang at a height of 4000 ft. and it stabilised itself at a low rate of descent at best climb speed with a disconcerting floppy collective and was successfully ditched using only the cyclic. The floats worked and everyone got out uninjured.


214 ST
________________________________________
I was fortunate to fly several thousand hours in the ST on Offshore and VVIP work as both line pilot and TRE/IRE. I thought it was a great helicopter. It was faster, had better range, and was more economical than the 332L. It was also more reliable than the 332L, as Bristow’s discovered. It had a great in flight blade tracking device whereby the pilot could adjust the length of one pitch rod in flight to achieve the lowest vibration level. They are still being used in Saudi for King Fahd (2), and the Royal Oman police had 6 when I was there (now 4).
Its drawback was a small boot, and the centre passengers were a fair way from the doors and a view. We carried 18 pax on sectors under 100 nm.
It had a great liferaft deployment system, where the pilot could release the liferaft in the roof, which fell down outside the doors, and automatically inflated.
It had 2 big. low stressed cool running GE 700 engines. Single engine performance was good for the late 80's & 90's, but not Cat A.
It had a Vne in auto of 100 kts, which made life interesting when cruising at 130 kts, and entering auto at that speed was dangerous. I think it was a combination of C of G, sudden change of airflow on the rear stabiliser, and maybe some retreating blade stall, but it was almost uncontrollable above auto Vne. I think this may have caused the 2 fatal crashes Evergreen had in the late 80's.
It was one of Bell's big mistakes in not doing some R & D. and developing it further (4 blades etc).
With only 2 barn door size blades rotating fairly slowly, the autopilot had to work hard. At altitudes above 8000 ft, we often had either a dutch roll or an undamped fugoid.
It was always dual pilot IFR due to the weight category, but had all the equipment for and was certainly capable of SPIFR.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time on it.
I loved my time on the 214ST. It had its problems like any helo, but the one thing it was good at was sticking like glue to a pitching and rolling ship's deck, far in excess of what a 332L could achieve. You could also hang a lot of ice on the fuselage thanks to the kinetic heating of those fat blades.

The one thing it wasn't very good at was flying with a broken main rotor drag brace - it let go at 3000ft (August 1985) and gave me the longest 75 seconds of my life.


The 214 ST is my second favourite Helo after the Blackhawk and nothing compares to them, worked on ST's for about 6 years on and off, they are a beast, will hover and fly away on one engine at 35oC oat at gross weight 17500lbs and I’ve seen it done , try and do that in a S Puma , that’s why the Saudi royal flight still use them, they will fly further, faster using less fuel, with the same payload as a S Puma, but they do have there problems the elec system is a nightmare , 2 batteries and approx 40 relays to start an engine! but the engines are just about indestructible the CT7 is on condition o/haul and Bristow’s had one that stayed in an airframe about 6000 hrs, the Makila in an L2 Super Puma is lucky to make o/haul at 2500hrs, I worked on the ST in Australia and Europe and the 214B in Europe and the mid east the Iranian military still have over 150 214 A/C models still in use, I saw quite a lot of them flying when I was in Iran last year. I've worked on Blackhawks, 214ST’s, S61's and Super Pumas and like them in that order.