Chopper coppers do it in 90 sec.

[chopperchav]

Watched my favourite program chopper coppers on men and motors last night. Great shots of November whisky 1 chasing badies around North Wales.
Interested to hear they aim to get airbourne within 90 seconds of callout. From my own experience I am lucky if I can do it within 20 minutes once I've triple checked the frictions are off etc. etc.
Is this just media bs or is it fact. Surely T's and P's are barely registering before the collective is going up.
Would it still be 90 secs if the bacon and egg sannies had just been served up?

[helicopter-redeye]

If they get it up often enough it will be warm already...

[MightyGem]

It's only the older aircraft(AS355, Bo105) that need a warm up period. Certainly the EC135, and probably the 902 as well, do not have a warm up period. The only thing that delays us in our 135 is waiting for the EFIS screens to come on line. Even in our old Squirrel, we could be airbourne within 2 minutes of me running out of the office door.

North Wales' 135 has standard flight instruments, so can probably get airbourne a bit quicker.

[SilsoeSid]

I've timed myself as 2 minutes from leaving the office door to being ready to lift. (902)

So, in addition to getting to the 100m to the a/c :ugh: ....

I do not leave switches in the 'ON' position ready.
The IIDS bite takes a few secs.
Listening to & noting ATIS .
SAS tests take a few more secs.
Challenge/Response pre-take off checks.
Clearance from ATC.

However, from callout!!
Got to go for a visit to the little boys room, finish off brew and biccies, logoff computer, turn off curry which is simmering on the cooker hob and remember to record big brother! ;)

So, yes cc, probably 20mins is a bit more realistic. :ok:

ATB
SS

[Droopy]

Best I could do in the AS355N was 40 seconds from opening the door, but that's by far the fastest starting aircraft I've flown.

[NickLappos]

Had to demonstrate leaving the ground in a Black Hawk in less than 2 minutes, and 70 seconds in an S-76. Easy enough when you pre-comply with all those daily checks and set the switches.
Good way to screw up unless you make and follow a careful checklist, and take an extra 10 seconds at the end to double check.

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Intertesting you should mention about bacon and eggs being served up - a relation of mine works for an ambulance authority. The crews know they have x amount of time to get to the call, so if the call is just around the corner from the station and tea has been served, then, what do you think happens? I understand this is standard operations every day unless a 999 crew member is involved or a child ! Safe in their hands eh ? Happy flying !

[aeromys]

Also tends to be associated with ethe task in hand...

a lairy vehicle pursuit - time to lift = 90 secs

a missing person reported three weeks ago with no defined search area - time to lift = "oooops, was that the chip light again?"

[SASless]

The key is to make haste slowly.....do the seat belt in one try...not fumble three...four tries...one guy straps in...the other does the start....transfer of controls...one finishes the run up...the other straps in...all run-up checks done at start of the shift....checklist done by pattern and double checked by the non-flying guy.

Once got a Chinook off the ground in 50 seconds from the first rocket landing adjacent to us.

[ShyTorque]

Droopy,

I concur about the 355N being an extremely rapid starter. We once managed 47 seconds from inside the ops room to being airborne with two observers on a vehicle pursuit. :ok:

[Paracab]

TheFlyingSquirrel,

Can't speak for every crew but that is not the case where I work, more than me jobs worth, Guv !

I might take a couple of rapid swigs and burn my mouth but we don't sit around finishing a cuppa and the paper on the grounds we can meet the response times because the call is local ! In these days of 'big brother' and particuarly AVLS, there is no hiding.

Apologies for the general thread creep here but on a similair note to the original police based question, in my experience of air ambulance ops (HEMS missions) the time from call to airborne is approx two to four minutes on the EC135 T2, and it only took slightly longer when the unit operated a Bo105.

[Hilico]

No-one using an A109 then? I've seen one of those go off very quickly (105 HEMS op being shown what it could do).

[effortless]

90 seconds to airborne but bloody hours hovering over effortless tower.:*

[bondu]

We managed about two minutes from callout to airborne when I was lucky enough to be flying HEMS in NW England. That was on a Bo105. Secret is excellent crew co-operation between pilot and paramedics. And of course ATC! We were lucky to have a brilliant ATC team in the tower, who never let us down.

bondu

[JAF0]

Do S61s take long to get ready? Watched one of the coast guard one day, must have been 10 mins + from engine start to actually going.

[Blackhawk9]

Have been in Blackhawks 90 sec batt on to pull collective. dual eng start with rotor brake on , great A/C best i've ever worked on.