How much water (rain/spray) can a helicopter fly through?
Hi there
Tonight (Wed 19/Dec) I saw something on television I've never seen before. Australia's newest surfing champion Joel Parkinson (he's just won the 2012 World Championship in Hawaii) arrived at the Gold Coast airport by helicopter after flying back into Brisbane on an international flight and then being transferred down to Coolangatta by (what looked like) a chartered helicopter. As part of the celebration for his homecoming two firefighting trucks sprayed the traditional 'wall of water' that a new airline or aircraft type taxis through on an inaugural flight. I was amazed to see the helicopter taxi hovering right through the middle of it! I'm not sure what helicopter type it was, modern 4 or 5 seater about the size of a Jetranger or Squirrel.
I would imagine the volume of water from two firefighting trucks would be way more than even the most torrential tropical downpour. Can anyone enlighten me as to what effect this would have on the rotor blades? Is it the done thing (as I said I've never seen it before) and a good idea. Surely that amount of water can't have been too great a thing for the blades of that machine. I have no knowledge on the effect of water droplets but would be interested in people's views.
Also I expect things would have gone seriously IFR for the pilot for a couple of seconds going through the spray. Would have been exciting.
Thanks
Renegade Man