Rotorcraft Nicknames

[rotornut]

Hughes 300 - Pissquick: Cabover chainsaw

[Lude-og]

AW139 Wolfhound

Apparently the Irish Air Corps was given the honour and named it the 'Wolfhound' as it was the first military user in around 2006.

Perhaps a current or ex IAC member can confirm this one.

Seems this one didn't catch on either.

[212man]

Originally Posted by Camp Freddie

Slightly off topic but I really like the name I once heard for the R66 in the style of a NATO reporting name.

The R66 'Goat" 😋

If it was in the style of NATO reporting names, that would make it a surface to air missile!

[noflynomore]

Interesting to hear the Gaz called a chicken leg. Having first flown them in 1983 this is the first time I've ever heard that name. How would that be used? "Oh, he arrived in a whistling chicken leg" or "Lets go in the whistling chicken leg" -not exactly catchy, is it? I never heard it called anything but Gaz or Gazelle. Never heard a SeaKing called anything but a SeaKing either. Ditto Dauphin.
Goat sounds about right (Surface to Air missile! Other way around, surely?) but what would a R22 be on that basis? A Toad? Or should there be ur in the middle of that instead of oa? After all it is a Crapinson.
Even if numbers seem a bit more prosaic than names we are at least spared the idiotic names car manufacturers bestow on their output. Best kept that way, I reckon.

BTW, Enstroms are mighty fine helicopters as all who have flown them much well know. The begrudgers seldom seem to have much if any Enstrom time. Funny thing, that. (a bit like me and Flimsycopters, bit that's a different matter altogether)

[TOMMY1954]

A pilot I knew used to call the Bell 222 the "good for nothing". I love the 222!

[[email protected]]

Noflynomore - I'm pretty sure it was mainly the Army Air Corps who referred to the Gazelle as the 'whistling chicken leg' or 'whistling sperm' due to its shape and fenestron whine.

[tistisnot]

wrench1

Sud Aviation joined Nord Aviation in 1970 to form SNI Aeropspatiale - this maybe where your 'SA' derivative comes from?

And I always thought the American name for the 365 was the "Doe' feeeeeen" ?!

[pitch horn]

Am I right in thinking that when the S76A was first introduced it was called the "S76 Spirit" but there were some legal complications ?

[treadigraph]

Not sure if there were problems for Sikorsky with Spirit but around the same time Cessna introduced the 303 Clipper, to which Pan Am objected via their lawyers as Clipper was their callsign. The 303 became the Crusader instead.

[Fareastdriver]

The name 'Spirit' apparently upset the South Americans on some religious note. Our engineers called it the Plastic Pig.

[S76Heavy]

I remember reading an article at the time about the S92 being developed from the UH60 and as such in keeping with the "Hawk" theme like Blackhawk, Sea Hawk, Nighthawk it was called the "Fat Hawk"...

[outofwhack]

I've never understood:

• Why some people think the Enstroms are rubbish when to me they appear to be properly over-engineered, safe and attractively designed helicopters - specially the 280 series.
• Why some people appear to denigrate the Jetranger by calling it a Jetbox when it has to be the most classic and timeless and most successful design ever. If they built them new I would buy one. The new 505 is a retrograde step IMO.
• Why most people are so quiet about what must be the second ugliest and most suspect helicopter of all - the lanky Robinson. The ugly top spot must surely be the Brantly.

OOW

[megan]

One name that has been applied to all types of helicopters at some stage has been "Hallelujah". Some folk, such as crab, are employed solely to fly Hallelujahs.

[John Eacott]

Originally Posted by noflynomore

Never heard a SeaKing called anything but a SeaKing either.

I did say 'in the early days'. Indeed there was a sticker produced (similar to the Fly Navy one) extolling the King Dipper, I'll find it and post here when I have the time (and inclination).

OOW, I always thought the term Jetbox to be one of affection, not a disparaging one. I had no issues with my Jetboxes nor with anyone calling them that!

[[email protected]]

Megan - is that because it is what the pax say when I somehow manage to get them back on land safely?

[westhawk]

Through the process we ran across a model number of SA366 or something.... was this the Aerospat ID for the HH-65?

I'm not an expert on the type, I've just always admired it. Enough so that I took the time to engage a coastie crew at a heli-expo display one day. Between that and some reading, I've learned a few things about the Dolphin. Very few it seems to me, since I've never flown or wrenched on one. I was a UH-60 wrench in a previous life.

A little reading reveals that AS-365 and SA-366 are both designations for the French Dauphin. The HH-65 is based on that design but was built in Texas and used different engines, among other equipage not common to the Dauphin. It seems the later C model upgrades are still in progress and include scrapping the LTS engines of the A and B models in favor of much newer Ariels of vastly superior power output and fuel specifics, new fenestron and improved gearboxes among other things.

I think it's always been a highly capable helicopter for it's intended mission, but suffered from weight creep, compounded by inadequate LTS engines. With new engines, it now has the power, range and speed it lacked before.

Here's something else pertinent to the thread title: It seems that some people may have referred to the Dolphin as Tupperwolf! (Plastic helicopter?)

[Impress to inflate]

Offshore, the S61 was The Queen Of The Sky's and the S76 was The Plastic Pig

[tistisnot]

Westhawk fyi

Principal versions 365: (omitting the Chinese Harbin made under licence)

SA.365 Dauphin 2
SA.360 fitted with two 650shp Turbomeca Arriel 1A turboshafts Prot. F-WVKE FF 24 Jan. 1975. Second prot. F-WVKD used for testing retractable u/c.

SA.365C Dauphin 2
Civil production version of SA.365 with 3382kg TOGW.

SA.365C1 Dauphin 2
SA.365C with 667shp Arriel 1A1 turboshafts.

SA.365C2 Dauphin 2
SA.365C with 670shp Arriel 1A2 turboshafts, 3480kg TOGW and modified transmission system.

SA.365N Dauphin 2
SA.365C with retractable tricycle u/c, lengthened cabin with max 11 pax separated from crew, pointed nose, composite rotors new air intakes and redesigned under-floor fuel tanks. 710shp Turbomeca Arriel IC turboshaft, 3977kg TOGW. FF 31 Mar. 1979. Prot. F-WZJD.

SA.365N1 Dauphin 2
SA.365 with 724shp Arriel 1C1 turboshafts, 4076kg TOGW and recontoured lower tail section eliminating ventral fin.

AS.365N2 Dauphin 2
SA-365N with two 763shp Turbomeca Arriel 1C2 turboshafts, new gearbox, 4226kg TOGW.

AS.365N3 Dauphin 2
AS.365N with quiet tail rotor and two Arriel 2C turboshafts. Prot. FF Oct. 1996.

AS.365N4
AS.365N3 with wide 12-passenger fuselage, five-blade main rotor and improved avionics suite. Prot. FF 16 Jun. 1997. Redesignated EC-155.

SA.365F Dauphin 2
Navalised SA.365N for Saudi Arabia etc. With pointed radar nose and either under-nose radar dish or antisubmarine missile system and 700shp Arriel 1M turboshafts. Prot. F-WZJD FF in this form 22 Feb. 1982.

SA.365M Dauphin 2
Army light tactical version of SA.365N1 with 12-troop capacity. Powered by two 913shp Turbomeca TM.333-1M turboshafts. 4077kg TOGW. Prot. F-WZJV FF 29 Feb. 1984. Later named Panther.


AS.365K Panther
SA.365M with 748shp Arriel 1M1 turboshafts. Redesignated AS.565.

X.380 Dauphin
SA.365N with combined composite rotor hub/mast, 5-blade rotor with swept tips, and 837shp Turbomeca Arriel IX turboshafts.

AS.366G / HH-65A Dolphin
Three-seat SA.365N for US Coast Guard short-range recovery tasks with internal stretcher fittings, rescue hoist, pop-out flotation bags etc. 4027kg TOGW. Powered by two 680shp Textron-Lycoming LTS.101-750A-1 turboshafts. Prot. USCG.4101 FF 23 Jul. 1980. Four built.

AS.366G1 Dolphin
Production AS.366G with LTS.101-750B-2 turboshafts and 4036kg TOGW. 92 built.

[noflynomore]

Offshore, the S61 was The Queen Of The Sky's (sic) and the S76 was The Plastic Pig

And what must be the ultimate fugly and unloved helo, the horrible Wobbly 30.

ps. Seconded that Jetbox is in no way disparaging.

[[email protected]]

I believe the first USCG Dolphins were horribly underpowered. My comment is based on a USCG exchange pilot who came to the RAF in 1990 who was my student at SARTU.

We had to complete a winch weight check prior to our first sortie which involved a vertical climb to 300' and back whilst winching out and in a 600lb weight.

At the end he commented on how impressed he was with the aircraft and I asked if it was just because the USCG didn't do much high hovering. His reply was that the aircraft was so heavy and gutless that they didn't do very much low hovering either!