To: Nick Lappos
“If I had a subordinate who spoke as you do, dug into absurd points as you do, and who simply could not learn, as you can't - I'd fire him without a second thought”.
Nick, I am almost 71 years old and I have been gainfully employed since 1956 and most likely, I make more money than you do. What you think of me as a person makes absolutely no difference to me. As I had indicated previously you attack me personally stating that my ideas are pure drivel and do not warrant any consideration yet when I ask you to respond to certain technical matters you step up the attack mode and do not reply.
Every thing in your above post is pure vitriol and as I stated before you should watch Dr. Phil. You have to learn to maintain an even disposition when you come on these threads no matter how much you disagree with what I say or what some other person might say. If you read the first post on this thread by Steve76, he stated that he experienced a glowing or sparking phenomenon while flying through a snowstorm. He also indicated that his communication system went haywire. That is exactly what I stated about our 214s in Iran. If his helicopter rotor system can glow or spark, why can’t mine? Regarding humidity in Saudi it can be almost 100% near the Gulf.
In country it can be less than 5%. That coupled with sand and dust will cause spark discharge from the rotor system. Especially on a helicopter such as the late model Cobras and other Bells with an elastomeric teeter bearing. This also holds true on helicopters that do not have an adequate bonding system between the blades, the head and on to the transmission. I understand that on newer helicopter designs they incorporate static wicks on the blade to dissipate the static charge. Quite possibly under the right conditions this discharge will be visible.
Would you believe that on the A-310 and the A-300-600 the flaps and slats are not bonded to the airframe and when the flaps are retracted a charge of 800-1400 volts of static buildup arcs to the rear spar or the wing skin causing spark erosion. This was brought to the attention of Airbus Industrie and the FAA and nothing was ever done about it. Guess who discovered this problem and fought very hard to have the systems properly bonded. Give up? It was I. So, I am very familiar with the generation and build up of static charges on aircraft and helicopters.. Maybe not from a scientific standpoint but from a very practical standpoint.