Originally Posted by
ApolloHeli
Back of the envelope maths with 1400kg EEW, 7 pax (80kgs each), an hour of fuel (150kg), and 280kg for the external load puts it at 2390kg.
Not sure what altitude it occurred at but here's the HOGE data in case someone else has that info. I'm sure this one's gonna be performance / planning* related.
Glad everyone's OK.
*skills / airmanship
Well, at 2400kg the H125/B3e will happy cope as in the graph and puts it a HOGE at 9000ft at 0 deg C. Now, from experience, the people flying the B3 with pax, tend to stick more than enough fuel on board as the machine performs regardless for their need and you easily bust the 2250 (single-Hyd) limit. Reason for that is the big difference 550KG's between the internal and external AUW as you can jettison you external load if you get problems.
Now, if this was a private flight, then I'm not sure if there is a prohibition in the regs against flying pax and cargo at the same time, since it is not for hire. Then the load-limit for the B3 is 2800kgs AUW, and by dropping the snowmobile you might be below 2250 IF you don't bring bags of fuel as said earlier....
As for 7 POB, on one picture it sure looks like the machine has the mod for bench front pax. From experience, if you use the bench, you must have max load in the aft compartment to stay within C.G and then you can't have all seats occupied by average built adults 80kg's on new H125/B3's with 1 hour fuel without busting internal AUW and then I'm not counting anything on the hook.
As for the wire (telephone-line?) in the picture, I don't think it did contribute, but much rather the snow-covered steepish hill with semi-bad references and the pilot's experience. Snowmobile on a short sling, concentrating on putting it down gently, stick the tail or MR-blade into the snow as situational awareness is not all that great.... that will do the trick, but this is pure speculation.
Has anyone heard of carrying a skidoo as external load and many pax on an AS 350?
It was quite common before to combine pax and ext. load, but currently for commercial ops (Europe), the regs specify only necessary crew for the operation to be on board. In a 350, there is very few instances you need a second crew on board if the pilot is proficient, besides for role-training new pilots