S-70 Firehawks - Single Pilot Ops

[Pac Rotors]

I heard at Heli Expo that the new Firehawks that LA County Fire Dept are taking delivery of will be single pilot aircraft. Has anyone in this forum flown these aircraft in single pilot ops as I always thought they were designed as two person crew??

[Larry]

http://home.earthlink.net/~garyl2/

Pac...Neville

Go here and then E-mail Gary Lineberry.

Gary flew the Firehawk during its testing
for LACFD and im sure would be happy to give you the info your requesting.

Larry

[Flight Safety]

Here's another link to a group in Florida that's been using an earlier S-70C as a firefighter. Both years shown (1997 and 1998) have some nice pictures.

http://www.firehawkhelicopters.com/

I'd love to see Sikorsky make the new Rockwell Collins digital flightdeck (designed for the Turkish Air Force) available in a civvy Blackhawk. The flightdeck has 4 LCD panels (an optional 5th panel) and 2 MCDUs. When looking at it, one of the first things you notice is the master warning panel is gone. I don't know much more about the instrument package (type of autopilot etc). The instrument cluster is more compact thus the top of the instrument panel is lower than the old one, providing better forward visibility. It's very nice and makes the Blackhawk more like a modern civil helicopter. I don't know if this flight deck is certified for single pilot operation though. Here's a link so you can see it.

http://www.sikorsky.com/news/news/current/Turkbhawk.html

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Safe flying to you...


[This message has been edited by Flight Safety (edited 15 February 2001).]

[Hoverman]

Here's the cockpit Flight Safety mentioned

http://www.sikorsky.com/news/news/current/Images/Cockpit-hi.jpg

[Pac Rotors]

I appreciate all the pics etc but still cannot work out how the aircraft can be single pilot operation when it is flown as two pilot aircraft by every other operator.

[Cyclic Hotline]

It is indeed an interesting question considering that the various S70 Type Certificate Data Sheets (H2NE, H3NE, H4NE and H5NE) specify a minimum of 2 crew, (Pilot and Co-pilot).

Although this aircraft will be operated as a public use machine, where essentially no rules apply (Ah, the wonders of government), it will be interesting to see how this machine will be operated. Maybe the FAA have provided a variance on the Type Certificate, or then again, maybe they are just going to do whatever they like?

Anyone have the answers?

[This message has been edited by Cyclic Hotline (edited 19 February 2001).]

[far cue]

Single pilot is NO BIG DEAL.

Flight manual for S-70A states "Minimum crew - one pilot".

It is done frequently

[Flight Safety]

Far Cue, is that single pilot VFR only, or is single pilot IFR allowed?

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Safe flying to you...

[far cue]

FLight Safety,

Sorry about the delay in answering, but have been away.

ANSWER: VFR only

[Pac Rotors]

Do LA County Fire use them for IFR ops or only VFR Ops.

PR http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

[Larry]

LA City and County Air operations only fly VFR. The Firehawk will be operated the same way.

[Pac Rotors]

Are they going to only use it for Fire fighting or are they going to use it for large scale events like earthquakes etc as well.

How hard is it going to be taking the tank of it and using it for other taskings as well as the fire fighting.

PR http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/cool.gif

[Larry]

I was told LA County Fire will fly the Firehawk with the Tank on at all times. The helicopter will still be able to lift 8000lb so payload won`t be a problem. The S-70s are supposed to be about 800lb lighter than the UH-60L test ship because the military equipment will be deleted ( armoured seats , exhaust suppressors etc.).
Of course the Firehwaks will be used during earthquakes. LA City Fire Air Operations launches 3 helicopters within minutes of any quake larger than a 3.0. One goes to the Harbor area ,one to the downtown area and the 3rd covers the San Fernando Valley area.They check freeways ,Buildings ,dams , hospitals
and general infrastructure. LA County Fire Dept.Air Ops does the same but is backed up with LA Sheriffs helicopters and local police helicopters because of the much larger area that needs to be covered.
One of the reasons LA Sheriffs procured 3 SH-3Hs was to have the ability to transport Deputys to outlying areas of LA County . Normally we have freeways go down so the helicopters are critical forRescue,transport and support of the Jails.
After the 1994 earthquake the Army sent 3 CH-47s down for use by the Sheriffs but because of restrictions the Sheriffs wanted their own heavy lift capability ( the Sea Kings can carry up to 30 deputys when needed.)
One interesting story was a LAPD ASTAR
crew were cruising the foothills of hollywood and then popped up to go over to the Valley and all they saw was BLACK !!
It took a couple seconds to get their bearings and realize a large earthquake had hit.
Within seconds they saw the fires start and began surveying and relaying information to the downtown emergency center.
LA City Fire Dept. launched and started their patrols. The Valley patrol saw a group of homes burning and started doing water drops on the structures with both 205A-1s ,a very rare event as the helicopters hardly ever fight structure fires.
Ill tell you this , you never want to be
on the epicenter of a large earthquake (as i was)especially at 4.30Am in the morning. The 1994 quake was simply incredible...it shook so hard i thought we were getting bombed. Plus, four weeks of aftershocks are REALLY no-fun because you never know how big they`ll get. If i feel the same type shaking again im outta here !!
After the 1994 quake i saw lots of cool helicopters ( i still had enough sense to go take pics). I saw US Customs UH-60As 206Bs TH-57As, Marine Corps SAR UH-1Ns out of El-Toro MCAS , ERA B0-105CBS , Army UH-60s , OH-58A ,UH-1Hs and CH-47Ds. Local Police and Fire helicopters.Plus TV helicopters came in from all over the western USA.

I hope they are doing OK in Seattle...
we can certainly relate down here in LA.

[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 01 March 2001).]

[Flight Safety]

Larry, just a small note. The Fire Hawk that was evaluated by LACFD was equipped with exhaust suppressors (they're in the pictures you posted). Those suppressors are nice to have as they make the Black Hawks better overall SAR helicopters by redirecting the engine exhaust towards the rear, instead of out of the sides. They don't weigh much either and are virtually maintenance free.

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Safe flying to you...

[Cyclic Hotline]

I would have thought that ANYONE flying over LA, would have wanted Armoured Seats! ;)

[Larry]

To:Flightsaftey
I suspect the exhaust suppressors were be deleted on the Firehawk because they cost more, add weight(if slightly)and from what the Sikorsky guys told me take about 1 or 2 percent of engine power.

TO: Cyclic
During the 1992 riots ( oh ,the fun of LA !!) LA City Fire Dept. helicopter crews
DID wear flak jackets whenever they went downtown and into "the war zone".
One LA Police Dept. Jetranger was shot thru the tail rotor driveshaft during the riots. Thankfully the bullet went right thru the center of the shaft and the crew didnt know what happened till they landed. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif



[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 01 March 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 02 March 2001).]