Sleeping in a helicopter

[Jonp]

Ok

So its been a bad day, you head for the last hour of flight back to your desination. Its getitng dark, and there is a cold front on its way. You phone a friend at the destination that says its 'OK' so you set off.

45 mins into the flight the weather comes in. Its down to about 500ft AGL, its getting quite dusk and then the rain hits hard. That's it, time to turn around and hea for the nearest weather diversion. Wolverhampton.

Its 21.20 and its nearly dark and in you go to a reasonable airfield and its pi$$ing with rain. Land fine, shut down, then its find a bed.

Nothing, no taxi, no one about, just 25kts wind and rain. Only one thing for it - sleep in the heli.

Thats what happened a month ago - don't ever do it - its is unbelievably uncomfortable. Add to that, the police heli went in 4 times that night and the heli was rocking in the wind.

The following morning, after having to start the machine up at 5, 6, 7, 8 just to keep warm and thaw my feet, and eventually I could leave for my destination.

Anyone else slept in their heli.

PS: an R44 is only about 4.5ft wide and its damn uncomfortable

Jon P

[paco]

Squirrels have much more legroom! :p

Slept in the equipment locker of a 1912 fire engine once, and under the tailboom of a scout under a parachute - not in a heli yet

Phil

[SilsoeSid]

2 in a Gazelle!!

Myself and a French exchange officer/pilot providing casevac cover during an exercise in Kenya '92.

Why?

Having set up the 9X9 tent for ourselves a signaller and a tech we were sat around the tilley lamp chatting, when a King Baboon Spider (http://lllreptile.com/info/library/animal-care-sheets/invertebrates/-/king-baboon-spider/) walked across the map!

Yes it was an uncomfortable night, but the alternative was to sleep on a Brit Army camp bed, (which at best leaves you an inch from the floor!!), with this beast and his family around............somewhere!!" :\


SilsoeSid, you are a big girls blouse!!!!!!........You're damn right I am!!!

[SASless]

Spent many a night in a Chinook.....invite the neighbors...plenty of room to swing a cat.....just find a place to put the forward landing gear into to level the playing field! Gosh but the rain rattles on that tin roof!:ok:

[Aesir]

This is exactly why I said to myself once.. "jez I have to get my self a job flying a bigger helicopter"... hehe its just no fun trying to catch a nap in H-300 or B-206.

The B-212 is very comfortable to sleep in, plenty of space.

I have never had to overnight though in the heli, just taken a nap on long stopovers.

[B Sousa]

Spent many a night in a Huey......Open up a stretcher and see ya later......
Even shared it with some Nurse types, but we are not going there.......i

[helicopter-redeye]

Nothing, no taxi, no one about, just 25kts wind and rain. Only one thing for it - sleep in the heli.

That Sir, is why we have flight planning.

Can't do it in the time. Don't even try.

Plenty of nice hotels to spend the companies money at and a nice flight home in the morning.

Possible excuses for missing appointments include:-

1. "Flight cancelled due weather" (well, it was true)

2. "Bloody Air France... etc" (it was TRUE)

3. "I wuz struck down with Belgian flu, God it was ....etc" (ditto)

4. "I met an absolutely amazing ...." (only with male staff/ buddies/ etc)

5. "Important client, .... insisted we negotiate the rest of the deal over dinner, .... then discuss into small hours ...." (normally convincing)

6. ".. and then this alien ship came down and ....." (NB this one rarely works in my experience)

7. "The weather was <sh 1 t> and I thought it was not safe to fly so I stayed in a local hotel and did some work instead" (this one works)





:\ :8

[Aser]

Ahh.. The 212 , what a beautiful place to do the "siesta" waiting for fires the last summer... :E

[flyer43]

Couldn't agree with you more!!

So its been a bad day, you head for the last hour of flight back to your desination. Its getitng dark, and there is a cold front on its way. You phone a friend at the destination that says its 'OK' so you set off.

45 mins into the flight the weather comes in. Its down to about 500ft AGL, its getting quite dusk and then the rain hits hard. That's it, time to turn around and head for the nearest weather diversion. Wolverhampton.

Its 21.20 and its nearly dark and in you go to a reasonable airfield and its pi$$ing with rain. Land fine, shut down, then its find a bed.



This has all the trapping of the push-on-itis that has got so many people into trouble, and will no doubt continue to do so.

Ringing the destination to check current conditions is one thing, checking the route and destination forecasts is another. And the time is ticking on as it's getting dark already........

I did notice that Jonp mentions heading for the nearest weather diversion, so I guess we have to give him some credit, but the rest of it worries me..................

[Heli-Ice]

Never had to sleep in a heli but once I had to take a beautynap in the backseat of my '79 Trans Am.
It took me a while to get out of the darn thing the day after!

[Devil 49]

Many, many nights in a Slick (non-gunship= "slick" sides). I'll take cold over warm, wet and buggy. When it wasn't raining, I'd try the roof top, and let the guys inside feed the mosquitoes. Really sucked when it rained so hard you had to close up- think steam bath.

A civilian Astar's nice- wide and cushy seats, great for napping. Never had to RON in one. An EMS Astar interior is cramped, with narrow irregular seating. The stretcher's only habitable with massive doses of drugs- which my medics took with them when they left with the patient- Halloween in a hay field, not the night to leave the bird out alone.

[EMS R22]

I had to sleep with 3 people in a R 22 once!Very cramped.:ok:

[Steve76]

I lived in a Bell 204 for 6 months. Couldn't afford a flat on the wages (and I use that term loosely...) and it was sitting in the back hanger rarely used. It was an ex-mil jobbie so it is possible that SASLESS or Bert had nodded off in it somewhere in Nam once upon a time.
You can easily fit a double airbed, 13" TV and toaster in there and slide the doors shut.
Strobes look cool at night in the hanger too...
Picked up the nickname "possum" from a couple of the pilots.

Apart from that I have slept on the stretcher in the back of the 76 (that is a bit creepy) and under the tail of the B47 for quite a few nights in the NT. Not at all fun.

[Gomer Pylot]

I have slept in 206s, Astars, and UH1s, and that is pretty much in increasing order of comfort, except for a couple of nights in a UH1 with no seats in the back. The floor gets really cold and hard. I've also spent many hours sleeping on the helideck of offshore platforms, using the seatbacks from 206L models to lie on, but the best way was tying a hammock to the handrails, or in a pinch, to the tail stinger and the tiedown shackle. I used to carry a nylon rollup hammock with me for those long days shut down on unmanned platforms with no facilities at all. I've also slept inside life jacket boxes - some are about the size of a casket, and filled with kapok life vests. They make fine sleeping facilities when it's raining and blowing 40 knots in the winter, far, far better than the back seat of a 206.

[2beers]

Note to myself: Try pick a hotel lawn for overnight weather-divert :zzz: Airports are for FW and refuelling.

/2beers

[6Z3]

Slept (briefly) in a Sea King left hand seat once (15 Sep 78 - North Atlantic)) as the Non-flying pilot. In scoring the winner in injury time I kicked the yawpedals....waking the flying pilot....and the rest of the crew.....whereupon the back seat uttered the immortal words "sweep complete no echos" followed by "prepare to jump"; and the crew broke dip and carried on with its night search for 'Red October' as though nothing untoward had happened - not even mentioned in the debrief.

[Non-PC Plod]

Sea King is much more comfy to sleep in if you rig up the cargo net in the back into hammock mode - lovely as long as you are not in the arctic!

[EESDL]

made that decision to say '**** it' and in the garden of a large house, near a road blah di blah. Turned out to be a hotel, wedding reception, thank you Lord for forcing me to stop there.
T'was only 7pm but what's another night away from the missus?

[6Z3]

N-PC P,

Tricky to score the winning goal when wrapped in a hammock

[verticalhold]

Many times on the flog up the East Shetland Basin in a 61 or 332, but that was due to boredom. Once since in the back of a 355 when the weather went completely while I was at a site in Wales.

Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the Wx deterioration because I was asleep waiting for pax. Woke up to thick unforecast fog. Bl**dy cold night.

VH

[SASless]

Landed a Jetranger in the wilds of Mt. Rainier National Park....fire guys took a wander off to check some lightning strikes. Combination of altitude, boredom, warm sunshine, cool air, beautiful scenery.....fire fighters returning commented to themselves about how there could be a motorized vehicle in the park in that location. Twas I making like a chainsaw....head back....snoring to beat the band! I am embarrassed to know how far away they heard me....but good for a laugh over beer.

[ShyTorque]

Sleeping in helicopters?

I know of a pilot and crewman who both slept in a Puma, in Belize in the early 1980s.

They were wakened from their peaceful slumber that evening by one of the regular passengers, a Women's Royal Vouluntary Service lady.

She shook the pilot's left arm and told him it was time to land as they had gone past the airport .... :\

We split that particularly long shift after that and used two crews as it wasn't the first time someone fell asleep on the way back.

[slowrotor]

I was sleeping in the back seat of a jetranger on our usual morning flight to a survey site, about 6am. The pilot put the ship into some scary maneuver and everybody screamed to wake me up. Then they all laughed of course. I figured since they were looking at me it must have been a stunt so I went back to sleep.

[RobboRider]

There was the story going round a couple of years ago bout a musterer in a Bell 47 somewhere in the OZ outback who was ferrying back to the homestead after a very long hard day chasing cattle.

Felt a bump and woke up to realize he was flying at a very low altitude and was now minus a pair of skids. Just had the cross tubes remaining.

He radioed the homestead and they set up four 44 gallon drums and he set down on them.

Of course it's probably all rumour;)

[TIMTS]

Slept many hours in the 44..as the Antillean half-hour easily stretches to 3-5hrs. Across the front seats ok in a pinch, backseats not possible due to the VCR mounted in the middle and lack of cushion in the right seat.

Much better to sleep under the helicopter, and worry about strange bugs. Have to constantly move the feet into the shade as the shadow from the tailboom moves. Ahh...to have a bigger helicopter...

[Gus T Breeze]

Spent quite a few nights sleeping in Gazelles on various exercises in Germany.
Used to fold the seats down into the 'casevac' role and use the cushions as a mattress. You had to make sure the aircraft was parked fairly level, otherwise you tended to slip down into the luggage bay overnight.
The biggest pain was clearing the condensation before being able to fly in the morning. Happy days!

[alouette]

On a few occasions in a Bell 206 on the aft seats...man, highly uncomfortable. My back still aches when just thinking about it.:}

[Floppy Link]

Had a stretcher fit in the Wessex for Mildenhall Air Show static display.
It wasn't really sleep though....more like comatose! Great parties...

Tried sleeping across the front seats of a 110 Land Rover in Belize - not to be attempted by a sane human.

EESDL if you want another night away from the missus, I'll stand in for you ;)

[Blackhawk9]

Many good sleeps in back of Chinook lots of room for stretchers and mattresses and the rolling motion puts you to sleep! Slept in back of Huey in back of C-130 not very comfortable as not much room , and also one memorable experiance with myself a mate and 3 backpackers (2 english ,1 NZ) and 2 cartons of VB "Guarding" 2 Blackhawks at Broome W.A . a long time ago....

[ConwayB]

The Back of a Chinook (aka Boeing Hilton) is very comfortable when you're out in the bush. Whilst the rest of the regiment is digging in and sleeping under plastic, you, and the rest of the crew and maintainers, are snug as a bug... etc.

Nodded off in a Black Hawk once... but then woke up and decided to hand over controls to the other pilot who was asleep. Long transits with extended range fuel tanks, long days, no radio traffic, no scenery (except the GAFA) makes for a very dangerous combination. Lady luck was looking out for us.

CB

[Hueymeister]

Slept in a 'King' in 36 deg of heat....not nice. Woke up somewhere over a big lake at 500ft in a Wessex, on goggles and I was the only one awake. It was at the end of a very long shift, interesting chat afterwards as the LM downstairs reckoned he'd managed at least 5 minutes uninterupted schlaf!

[VeeAny]

In a H300 last night / this morning.

Helps if you take the duals out. Very cramped with 2 of us though.

V.