PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - UK SAR 2013 privatisation: the new thread
Old 31st Dec 2014, 09:28
  #1459 (permalink)  
[email protected]
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: EGDC
Posts: 10,363
Received 649 Likes on 285 Posts
LouisNewmark - I believe both the S92 and the AW189 have very clever autopilots with GPS/inertial nav autohover capability - either the pilot or the winch op can fly the aircraft in this configuration - just the same as the Sea King (the 3A has a more flexible HT arrangement than the mk3 AHT).

So, despite the increase in accuracy - ie laser ring gyro type technology instead of doppler - it is still better (and easier) for the winch op (who can see exactly what is going on under the aircraft and what the winchman is doing) to control the aircraft using a hand controller with both the winch controls and the hover trim controls, than it is for him to verbalise the required movement and for the pilot to react to it.

There will be times when the winch op has to hand back control to the pilot (assisting cabin entry for winchman and survivor for instance) but that can be done quickly as a verbal handover.

There are plenty of rescues where the pilot gets to earn his pop-star wages but at night or when there are limited hover references over water, the hover trim operated by the winch op will be the weapon of choice.

S92 and AW189 SAR will be the same as Sea King SAR but hopefully a bit faster - no matter how shiny and new the aircraft, what happens underneath it hasn't changed much for many years, and for good reason - it works.
crab@SAAvn.co.uk is offline