Approved Technique?

[My names Turkish]

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/399592/M/

Saw this picture and thought it looks really really cool. It must take a very skilful and careful Pilot to do that. Serious question though, Do they teach you how to do that, is it an approved method?

[whatsarunway]

C of G problem? nose wheel problem? They do/did something like that on the 206 factory course, can't remember why though!

[My names Turkish]

If you scroll down the page you will see a caption explaining what they are doing. Apparently checking the Nosewheel?

P.S You seem to do a bit of 206 knocking in just about everyone of your posts, would you like to share that with me, or have I missed something?

[Ascend Charlie]

Could be a red nosewheel light indicating it is not fully locked down, or else the wheel may have castored around to the 180 degree position - if it is then retracted, it jams up and cannot come down. So maybe the copilot is just turning the nosewheel back to the right spot, or looking up the captain's skirt.:8

[Gabra1]

Anybody who has flown the S76 would know that it hovers with a 10 deg nose up atitude. This is quite normal attitude for the S76 when lifting off to a hover.

[NickLappos]

It is fairly easy to lift the nose off in any helicopter, I used to show folks what the auto landing atitude in a Cobra looked like by rocking back on the stinger. It is easier yet with wheels and brakes. Just use some back stick and hold the brakes on while raising the collective. Slowly lift the nose and don't bang the tail. Too much back stick with down collective could be a problem, as you could hit the droop stops or even the intermediate gearbox cover (if you are in an unmodified A).

The S-76 hovers at nose level at forward CG, and 7 degrees nose up at aft cg in zero wind. If the wind is 10 knots, the nose rises about 3 degrees more due to downwash on the horizontal tail, so in a headwind, and at full aft CG, you can expect 10 degrees nose up.

That attitude in the picture is a bit higher than 10 degrees. The tail cone touches at about 15 degrees, so I would guess he is at about 12 or 13 nose up in the pic.

[ShyTorque]

If an S-76 nosewheel is allowed to bog in on soft ground the nosewheel doors can contact the surface and be damaged because they tend to get spread apart.

Having read the caption below the picture and looking at the soft surface the mains are sitting on / in then that's my guess why they are having a look ;)

[whatsarunway]

Turkish
not intended as a knocking on the 206 , its a good reliable helicopter , well proven etc, i just think some of the newer designs might have the edge on it thats all! Does anyone know why they tilt the 206 back on to the stinger on the course? again not a knock just a question!

[NickLappos]

ShyTorque,

That is my guess too. Usually, the doors contact the ground if the soil is very boggy, but no damage is done. It is possible that the edges get bent, or the doors get spread, though.

[donut king]

Boys,

Take a closer look at the pic. There are two pilots in the cockpit. The rotor disk appears to be level with the horizon.

Maybe, the ground has a good slope to it and all they are doing is taking off/ setting down with a ground handler marshalling??

D.K

P.S Cool shot, though!!

[John Eacott]

As Donut King says, there are two pilots in the cockpit. Look at the "large" image available, it seems that they are landing down slope, and the slope would have about 4-5 degrees: that would put the S76 in a "normal" touchdown attitude in this photo.

Don't believe everything the caption implies, it would be a better bet that they have another pilot (?) marshalling them on a slope landing.

[NickLappos]

The marshaller looks like he is either leaning forward, or he is vertical and the photo is slightly tilted. The rotor disk doesn't give us much info, since the wheels are on the ground, there could be significant forward or aft rotor thrust component that is being restrained by the wheels and brakes.

[John Eacott]

Looking at the trees in the background, I'd say the marshaller is just leaning into the downwash ;)

[ShyTorque]

Actually, looking at the wrinkles in his trousers, I think he's got one leg shorter than the other. :E

[mmniemi]

Hi all!

As the author/taker of the photograph, I can tell you that what is written in the photo description, is 100% what happened. That Sikorsky landed on that field and passengers came out (NHL legend Jari Kurri was one of them, BTW). After that, the co-pilot (not marshaller) came out as well, and went in front of the copter. Then the pilot lifted the nose up and the co-pilot took a few carefull looks at the front gear (or could have been gear doors or bottom of the copter). Then he showed with his hands that the pilot can lower the nose back to the ground. After that, they turned off the copter and went to see some rally cars for a while. I hope this clarifys things a bit...

Besides, if someone sees two pilots in the cockpit, I would suggest him to get glasses, or at least clean them a bit (no offence) :cool:

-Mikko

[John Bicker]

Correct there is only one pilot, but is he in the correct seat? PIC from the left seat? May be not according to the flight manual! Over to you Mr Lappos.

[vorticey]

your letting the truth get in the way of a good yarn!

judging by the weeds in the background, he's just doing a bit of snippering around the pad, but the P.I.C. fell out, and hes just gonna get back in! ;)

[NickLappos]

John Bicker,

The rule is single pilot operations only from the right seat. That being said, there is some kind of point to be made that the operation in question was not for the purposes of flight, and thus .......

[Steve76]

Probably didn't want to climb out over the collective in the hover.