MD600- Utility Ops

[aerotune]

Hi,

Has anyone here worked a MD600 on continuous external load work?

If so what is the max realistic external load weight it can carry?

What are the positives/negatives with this aircraft ?

Cheers

[mixing lever]

Here are two State-side operators who use 600s in the utility world.


https://ecsourceservices.com/


Brim Aviation - Burl Brim @ BrimAviation (http://www.brimaviation.com/)

[chopper2004]

Try this thread mate

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/395471-md-600-loadlifting.html

Or speak to these guys in Switzeland -

Kontaktieren Sie uns - Online geht's ganz einfach - Fuchs Helikopter (http://www.fuchshelikopter.ch/kontakt_de.cfm)


Or straight back to the horses mouth @ MDH

MD Helicopters - MD 600 Gallery (http://mdhelicopters.com/v2/gallery_md_600.php)

Cheers and Happy New Year

[RVDT]

Lets see now..........................

A bit of history - The 600N wasn't "designed" it just grew from somewhere.

from Uncle Toms Cabin - like Topsy "I wasn't born, I just growed"

Subsequent to that a lot of it doesn't work very well as the original design struggles to keep up with the growth.

To establish where the weak points are from this growth you only need to look at the published data from MDH and go from there.

Finite component lives for example -

Upper Thrust Bearing - 600 hours
Tailboom attach bolts - 300 hours (cracked fittings where the boom has departed)
Collective Stick Housing - 450
Collective Pitch Control Tube - 400
Collective Pitch (Pilot) Tube Assembly - 600
Landing Gear Strut - 696

Some of it is good and that stuff trickled back down into the smaller models (i.e. Main Gearbox)

But most of it was plain awful. If you stand back and look at it the helicopter doesn't have a "big enough" rotor for its size.
Just throwing an extra blade at isn't that simple. There is a lot of drag in the MR for not enough thrust and the pitch angle on the
blades when the required thrust is produced is not optimal. We are dealing with the same blade profile as the 300 remember.
That would also explain amongst other things such as blanketing by the cabin why it Autos like a greased brick at 80 knots.

To explain where I am coming from, I cut my teeth as a mechanic on 500/500C then the introduction of the D/E and put the second
600N ever into service as well as having to fly the thing. It took years off my life and it was during a period of turmoil in the life of MD.
The thing had "Boeing" written on the door.

As they say - Try as you might you can't polish a turd.

shoulda coulda woulda - but still not a solution.

[Hughes500]

rvdt

Curious what's its ROD in autos at 80 Kts ?
300c (3 blades )is about 1800 ft min
500HS(4 blades )is about 2000
500D/E ( 5 blades )about 2300

So would assume that with 6 blades must be getting close to 2600 ???
Not a great comparison I know as 300 blades are about 4 inches longer than c d or e model ones about the same length as 600 ones

[500guy]

Disclaimer: I have no first hand experience but have several friends who do have first hand experience whom I have had this conversation with.


Precision set about 1500lbs. Maybe a bit more at sea level on a cold day. Its a lot heavier than the 530F, and will pic a bit more at sea level but not at altitude. I know a few companies that work them, but none of them seem to work them very hard. A few hundred hours a year.


Either you love them or you hate them. Most 500 pilots seem to hate them because of the soft and slow to respond TR. The guys that like them seem to really like them.