To Genghis the Engineer
"Mind you there's arguably equally great respect due to whoever was flying photo-chase for that sortie!"
Agreed! Excellent flying and great photography by Bob Fergusen. Nice meeting you too. I have enjoyed your corner of the forum!
To Vaqueroaero
"Would you be the same Rich Lee who used to fly in Carlsbad, CA when Hughes was there?"
Si, Soy you amigo.
"If so, then I have been hearing stories about you from a guy called Roland, who I have had the distinct pleasure to be flying with lately."
I know Roland well, a fine gentleman of distinction!
The Crazy Burro is still in existence and he still wants to know:
"How do you roll a 300?"
Ahhhh, the Burro. Don't let Roland fool you-he's been around more than he likes to admit. He knows that it will only do a very crappy slow roll. Roll rate is almost nothing and pitch couple is nasty. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Tell him to show up at the next Helicopter Aerobatic Championships to see some awesome H300 maneuvering. The best helicopter aero guys all seem to be from the UK and Europe and that competition is where they show their stuff.
To Bullet Tooth Tony
"That's the sort of thing Bloo Anderson used to do in Apache, Lynx and Gazelle.................Apparently!"
Yes he did, and with great distinction I have heard.
To Muff Coupling
"Not impressed.....better than this was done by Lynx AH1 in 1979. It would be tempting main rotor head departure to do any of the profiles shown in the phots between 19,000lb and max op overload of 21,000lb in a 64D
The first loop in a helicopter I have know of was performed in a Sikorsky R-4 during WW2. There is a cockpit film of it running around somewhere. In that sense we are all standing on the shoulders of giants (I stole that from Newton or somebody like that).
I have been lucky to have flown helicopter aerobatic displays at nearly every international airshow (and almost all US shows). I have been flying aerobatic displays at shows since 1979. During that time I have seen several impressive Lynx displays by some incredible pilots. The rotor head design of the Lynx gives the aircraft great maneuverabilty. I have been impressed by each and every one of those displays. To this day I love to watch any helicopter perform aerobatics and still shake my head in disbelief that they can do so at all. Those of us who have survived doing this for 10 years or more do not consider displays to be competitive and have great respect for each other. The group is very small and we know each other well. We realize the each aircraft has advantages and disadvantages. For instance, I can do linked rolls all day in an Apache at mission gross weight, but the same maneuver set is a challange in the Lynx (in fact linked rolls are not allowed at most international airshows because of a Lynx accident). A Waddington flip in the Apache is dicey but in the Lynx it is great fun. An inverted flat spin in a BK-105 is inspiring but the same maneuver in an MD500 is "muy mal" as the Spanish say. Some helicopters are unbelievable when clean wing and veritable dogs when in a dirty configuration.
We do the Apache show at 16,500 lbs which is mission gross weight with externals. We use a stock Army aircraft and do nothing to it. We have tested loops, rolls, hammerheads, split-s and other maneuvers at 17,500 up to 7,000 feet density with no significant operational impact. As you are probably aware, you only see 19,000 and above with external wing tanks full of fuel. The problem with doing a loop at near limit weight in the Apache is that you can't get enough smash (g) before the blades stall so you tend to fall off before getting very far into a loop. You don't lose the rotor and the blades do not fall of the helicopter. The helicopter just stops flying until the blades come out of stall.