Fareastdriver
28th Jul 2009, 15:05
Way back in the late sixties I took a trio of Whirlwind HAR 4s to a place in northern Malaysia called Grik. There was a Ghurkha unit flushing out the last of the Commies in the country. We were there for the usual periodic helicopter troop training for a day operating out of Butterworth. One of our pilots was new to the theatre and he had the Squadron QHI along with him to show him the ropes.
Operating out of the sports field the day went as normal and we had just finished when I saw my Number 3 approach over the trees then suddenly flare and run onto the ground at about sixty knots. What had happened was that our new pilot had had a compressor stall on the approach. The QFI with him (Roger Taite) had realised what had happened, taken control and managed to carry out a successful EOL. There was no time to go through engine shutdown so the engine was well cooked and blued. This was an ongoing problem with the Gnome in the Whirlwind at the time so it was yet another engine change.
Big hearted Arthur here decided to stay with it so I sent the other two crews plus my crewman off back home whilst I awaited an engine and team from Singapore. The team arrived next day and it consisted of a chief tech and the Rolls Royce rep as he wanted a first hand look before it was shipped back to the UK. We now had a Whirlwind with a duff engine with the new one on the way by truck. The obvious question came up. How badly was the engine affected by a compressor stall.? Only one way to find out, start it up.
So we did and it started normally. I did a few slam accelerations manually and everything was fine. The R/R rep now wanted to do a stall margin check. The chief tech had the kit with him so it was possible but not without a tie-down base. There was a platoon of Ghurkhas playing football so I collared one team, stuck them in the back, cranked it up and we did the stall margin check. It was very very light on the wheels but it was OK.
Now he wanted a ‘red line’ check. This is a line on the flowmeter that tells you that you are at max power and it varies with temperature and altitude. We rearranged the throttle actuator and the chief tech collared some more Ghurkhas. There was now space problem but I was worrying because as I pulled in the power it was still getting airborne. Not a lot, just floating.
He now wanted a topping check. My chief tech packed in everybody, both teams, linesmen and referee. I was airborne by about three inches and after a few seconds the Rrpm started to sag so I put it back on the ground. After shut down we checked the engine performance parameters against the book, it was 110% on everything. Obviously all Gnomes should be cooked in the factory before they are issued.
This has been done many times, using people to weigh down helicopters on engine tests.
However, I am claiming a single-engined helicopter record for numbers of human ballast and getting airborne. Can anybody beat it? There must be some S58s driver out there who have got close or beyond, if so lets hear it and see the photo.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee224/fareastdriver/WhirlwindTiedown.jpg
Operating out of the sports field the day went as normal and we had just finished when I saw my Number 3 approach over the trees then suddenly flare and run onto the ground at about sixty knots. What had happened was that our new pilot had had a compressor stall on the approach. The QFI with him (Roger Taite) had realised what had happened, taken control and managed to carry out a successful EOL. There was no time to go through engine shutdown so the engine was well cooked and blued. This was an ongoing problem with the Gnome in the Whirlwind at the time so it was yet another engine change.
Big hearted Arthur here decided to stay with it so I sent the other two crews plus my crewman off back home whilst I awaited an engine and team from Singapore. The team arrived next day and it consisted of a chief tech and the Rolls Royce rep as he wanted a first hand look before it was shipped back to the UK. We now had a Whirlwind with a duff engine with the new one on the way by truck. The obvious question came up. How badly was the engine affected by a compressor stall.? Only one way to find out, start it up.
So we did and it started normally. I did a few slam accelerations manually and everything was fine. The R/R rep now wanted to do a stall margin check. The chief tech had the kit with him so it was possible but not without a tie-down base. There was a platoon of Ghurkhas playing football so I collared one team, stuck them in the back, cranked it up and we did the stall margin check. It was very very light on the wheels but it was OK.
Now he wanted a ‘red line’ check. This is a line on the flowmeter that tells you that you are at max power and it varies with temperature and altitude. We rearranged the throttle actuator and the chief tech collared some more Ghurkhas. There was now space problem but I was worrying because as I pulled in the power it was still getting airborne. Not a lot, just floating.
He now wanted a topping check. My chief tech packed in everybody, both teams, linesmen and referee. I was airborne by about three inches and after a few seconds the Rrpm started to sag so I put it back on the ground. After shut down we checked the engine performance parameters against the book, it was 110% on everything. Obviously all Gnomes should be cooked in the factory before they are issued.
This has been done many times, using people to weigh down helicopters on engine tests.
However, I am claiming a single-engined helicopter record for numbers of human ballast and getting airborne. Can anybody beat it? There must be some S58s driver out there who have got close or beyond, if so lets hear it and see the photo.
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee224/fareastdriver/WhirlwindTiedown.jpg