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Old 19th Mar 2013, 09:09
  #1889 (permalink)  
Savoia
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Milano, Italia
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500 Fan: Great shots. One wonders how the 1100 coped with these 'luggage racks', power wise?

Nigel: I was sure she had come across your radar at some point!

Agaricus: When I first encountered the 500 I had been flying the 206L and the 500 (for me) didn't really 'hit the spot'. But, my introduction had been through training exercises and when some years later I got to put her through her paces in an operational contect .. I was most impressed. For the work we were performing she was ideal, I would venture to say .. untouchable! If the LIII is on your 'wish list' .. why not go a couple of digits higher and opt for the 407 which, as it happens, has some '500-esque' handling qualities!

Hiller 12E (above): Barry Friend (who photographed th Hiller 12E above) has written to say that the camouflage roof was a left over from the second world war and that the craft had landed upon the signal square which was no longer in use (hence the tufts of grass!).

Eric: The 'C' model with its C18 was probably more economical than the 206 but .. they still like to be fed with fuel!


Hughes 500C (369HS) G-LINC as seen at Cranfield on 3rd July 1994 (Photo: Malcolm Clarke)

LINC had an 'incident' at Sywell on 2nd January 2006 a summary of which reads:

Initially, the pilot flew 16 nm from Sywell to Catthorpe, near Rugby in Warwckshre, in order to pick up hs passenger. After landing, the pilot kept the engine running while his passenger boarded. They then flew to Folkestone Race Course (3 nm point-to-point) where they spent the day. The helicopter was not refuelled at Folkestone because no fuel was available.

The flight back to Sywell was uneventful until just north of Luton Airport. At this point the FUEL LOW caution light flickered once or twice. The pilot was not concerned as this had occurred to him before with a low fuel state. He attributed the flickering caption to the fuel moving around in the tank as a result of air turbulence. Prior to this, the pilot had not made a fuel burn check while en route.

At approxmately 10 nm from Sywell the FUEL LOW caution light came on permanently. He was not too worried by this because his GPS indcated he was 6 mins from Sywell. He believed that when the FUEL LOW caution light came on, he still had 15 mins flying time available.

Due to a number of microlight aircraft in the circuit at Sywell, the pilot elected to join the circuit at the end of the downwind leg rather than fly a straight-in approach. Whilst on final approach, at 400 ft agl, the engine flamed out. The pilot commenced an autorotation and landed firmly short of the threshold of Runway 23. He did not recall what hs cyclic control inputs were durng the touchdown. The pilot and his passenger vacated the helicopter uninjured.

Full report here.

I'm not sure whether the AAIB report author intended to be humorous in his compilation of this summary but .. his litany of events and the driver's responses (underlined) does have the effect of tickling the corners of one's mouth!
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