Bell 412 windspeed question

[aquila105]

What's the highest wind speed at which you've flown a Bell 412?

[Boudreaux Bob]

Define "flown" please.

Start up....shut down....hover....cruise?

[tottigol]

140 Kts. :D

[aquila105]

Take off, cruise and the mandatory IGE hover and landing. Totti, sim doesn't count :)

[tottigol]

Well, actually that's how fast I flew the 412 a few times, not necessarily in level flight and never in the sim anyway.
Aquila, you mean wind over the nose as actual wind?:E
Watch the gambling.;)

[aquila105]

Wind as specified by ATIS, Metar, tower advisory, windsock or a combination of the above prior to skid-earth separation.

[maeroda]

140+ Kts IAS......dive, no pax.

Previous life: 176 Kts GS, FL120, very strong tailwind going to Palermo.

[fijdor]

I understand you are looking for a 412.

But in a B212 at a 200ft hover I had 80kts on the airspeed ind, just to show the customer how windy it was and why we wouldn't work that day.

It was in Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada

JD

[aquila105]

Thank you Fijdor. Despite my poor explanation it seems you're the only one that understood I wasn't looking for relative wind :)

[fijdor]

Thank you Fijdor. Despite my poor explanation it seems you're the only one that understood I wasn't looking for relative wind

Must be my French Canadian accent, we understand everything backward:}

JD

[John Eacott]

a105,

It was quite common for winds in the North Sea to vary significantly in a short space of time, exceeding our shut down limits before we could return to the Treasure Finder and land on/shut down. As a result we would do taxi runs around the Brent until the wind came back within limits.

The worst I saw in a 212 was a steady 80kt wind for about 2-3 hours during which I carried on moving pax and freight around the field. Fine for downwind runs (no GPS in those days so no actual GS readout) but the flog back up the field into wind was very, very slow!

I've not encountered much in the way of strong winds whilst flying the 412, probably no more than 30kts, but I'd expect it to be similar to the 212 although the 2 x 2 blade head would give a harsher ride, IMO.