U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Zulu

[Otterotor]

Congratulations to the United States Marine Corps helicopter flight crews for fifteen years (5475 days) of mishap / accident free operation of their AH-1Z Viper Helo with original design main rotor. :D


First Flight: 10 December 2000


Reported Accidents: 0


Main Rotor Redesigns: One (1) initiated & worked on for approximately ten years. Zero completed, implemented or incorporated. :=



OORAH!, MerryChristmas and Happy New Year.

[HeliHenri]

Hello Otterotor,


You mean that the Marines are operating the AH1Z for 15 years ? I thought that it was much less than that.

[Lonewolf_50]

That's a noteworthy operational record, and is very nice work by those who designed, built, fly and maintain these helicopters. (@Helihenri IOC was in February of 2011, FWIW).

To put into perspective how impressive that safety record is, I'll dig into my memory and present the following (any errors in recall are apologized for up front):

1. From 1982 to 1986 Navy SH-2F: 14 Class A mishaps. (Over a dozen folks were lost :{
2. From 1989-1993 three SH-60B (a mature aircraft at that point) class A Mishaps in the West Coast wing. All of them included people I knew personally. (Four fatalities: two TRGB failures flight over water, one uncontained engine failure led to losing the second engine, flight overwater). If there were other Class A's or losses in Seahawks during that period my memory is failing.

This may not be an apples to apples comparison, as it's a fixed wing training aircraft that flew a boat load of hours, but it covers a similar period of time ...
3. During the period from 2000 to 2013, the T-34C (a very mature aircraft at that point) had seven class A mishaps and 8 fatalities. (I think I have accounted for them all). During that period, the T-6 began to replace the T-34C and it was completely replaced by 2013. That makes it an inverse of the look that Otterotor's gives us of flying the Viper "from birth into adulthood."

[Otterotor]

H - H
H-1 Upgrade contract let in November 1996. Clean sheet rotor design initiated. Zulu first flight Dec 2000 with Bell flight crew. Flight testing with Marine pilots initiated 2002. First delivery 2006. Zulu IOC 2011 due to Target Sight System development issues. All info from memory, if it serves me properly. Otter

[HeliHenri]

Thanks to you both :)

[SplineDrive]

It is not true to say there have been 15 years of operation on the new four bladed flex beam rotor without mishap... There was an in-flight static failure of a rotor blade cuff in 2005 that led to a hard landing and operating envelope restrictions.

There are a few public references to this event on the web.

[Lonewolf_50]

It is not true to say there have been 15 years of operation on the new four bladed flex beam rotor without mishap... There was an in-flight static failure of a rotor blade cuff in 2005 that led to a hard landing and operating envelope restrictions.

There are a few public references to this event on the web. Was that classified as a mishap or a test/development learning point? :confused: (In other words, was NAVSAFECEN involved in the after action report)?

[Otterotor]

Congratulations to the United States Marine Corp helicopter flight crews for sixteen years (5840 days) of mishap / accident free operation of their AH-1Z Viper Helo with original design main and tail rotors.
Was there an event back in 2005? Yes, at flight test over Leonardtown, Md. The data point was intended to be the 1.11 Vne (222 KCAS) and 3.5 G's symmetrical pullup. The recorded data shows 3.7 G's and 223 KCAS. All four cuffs contacted their respective upstops which resulted in compressive buckling failure of each cuff (which was the predicted failure mode). The aircraft (it is not an airplane) subsequently landed with high vibes as the cuffs were no longer as stiff torsionally as they were designed to be. So, a shaky landing on the local golf course but aircraft and personnel survived, I talked with them and visually inspected the cuffs. The data point was slightly outside the design envelope and well outside the operating envelope. It did not go down on my personal log as an accident.


First Flight: 10 December 2000, Reported Accidents: 0
Main Rotor Redesigns: One (1) initiated & pursued for approximately ten years (and $80 mil) with no results to show for it. Zero redesigns completed, implemented or incorporated.


OORAH! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[Lonewolf_50]

@SplineDrive: how is an inflight event a static failure? The rotor head, as described by Otterrotor, would have been under dynamic loads at the time.

[JohnDixson]

Have a question for you, Otterotor, but before asking it, congratulations to al of the people involved in attaining that safety record, at Bell and the USMC.

Question: re the maneuver described in post #8, it sounds like part of the structural demonstration, and if so, have the test requirements changed that substantially? Mil-D-23222a used to require a symmetrical pullout to limit Nz ( 3.5 for military helicopters ) at speeds up to Vlimit. The language used in the post, I.e., 1.11 Vne, sounds like FAA Pt 29 lingo. Just curious as to the test requirement.

Thanks,
John

[Otterotor]

Lonewolf; A single load failure event (or very low cycle count) is described as being a 'static' failure vs. high cycle count and gradual failure as evidenced by fatigue striations as being a 'fatigue' failure.


JohnDixson: Good question, I was not up to speed on the origin of the flight card and thus the requirement. I was informed that the G's occurred during symmetrical pull up at 1.11 Vne. We would have been governed by Marine Corps or NAVAIR requirements but I am not familiar with the details of those requirements. At the time of the event I was lead design engineer at the flight test site (PAX) maintaining production configuration for the five (5) flight test aircraft (which, except for Z-1, which had the older cockpit dial indicators vs. digital, we later DD-250'ed to the Marin Corps customer as production aircraft). The reason I was called on to inspect the rotor was my previous position as lead structural design engineer on main and tail rotors.

[Lonewolf_50]

@Otterotor: thanks for the terminology clarification.


@SplineDrive: now I understand why you put it that way.

[FakePilot]

Quite simply really. They weren't ordered to crash. :)

[Otterotor]

In my opinion:
Congratulations are in order to the United States Marine Corps helicopter flight crews for seventeen years (6205 + 4 leap year days = 6209 days) of mishap / accident free operation of their AH-1Z Viper Helo with original design main rotor (identical part numbers fly on UH-1Y Venom).

First Flight 7 December2000, Reported Accidents: 0

Original design initiated November 1996, clean sheet, rotor components designed (including main rotor yoke, cuff, blade, mast, rotating controls, main transmission, tail rotor driveshafts, intermediate gearbox, ninety degree gearbox, tail rotor rotating controls, tail rotor mast, tail rotor hub and blades), parts fabricated,fatigue test machines designed and fabricated along with composite tooling designed and fabricated (unique thick laminate technology), one or two of each main component fatigue tested, aircraft assembled and flown, all in approx.four years. No prototypes, 4 of the 5 test aircraft were DD-250’d (delivered, four of five test aircraft self-deployed simultaneously East Coast to West Coast USA at termination of Flight Test effort, 8:00 A.M. May 9th 2006) to the customer as production aircraft, with the fifth being shot up in live fire testing on west coast.

Main Rotor Hub Redesigns: one (1) initiated & pursued by OEM Bell Helicopter for approximately ten years (2002 to 2012) (and $80 mil) with no results to show for it. Zero redesigns completed, implemented or incorporated.
The Marine Corps has more-than-made-up the loss of approximately $80 million spent on the unproductive (0.00 results) effort to redesign the H-1 Upgrade main rotor with financial returns on the unused pre-determined & assigned airframe attrition rate of 1.00% per annum for the AH-1Z Viper (@ approximately$26 million / copy).

OORAH! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!:O

[LRP]

Congrats are in order. J thru Z and kept the round canopy the entire time! (not going to count the G's cause they were loaners)

[Otterotor]

H-1 Upgrade Fatigue Life Summary

Approximately 90% of main rotor components have been assigned 10,000 Hr. fatigue lives. The predominate vibration source for main rotor fatigue life limits is (approximately) the number of blades per revolution or 4/rev.
100% Nr for H-1 Upgrades = 296 RPM.
The calculation for predominate cycle count for H-1 main rotor components:

4/rev x 296 rev/min x 60 min/hr x 10,000 hr/life = 710 million cycles / one life time

Or 7 x the accepted cycle count of 100 million cycles for infinite life.
This implies that the components assigned a 10,000 hr. life are being subjected to oscillatory and associated steady load combinations below the endurance limit of the component and therefore the component will not fail due to fatigue loading.

Additional H-1 Upgrade Percentages

1) Greater than 100% increase in fatigue lives for many rotor components (compared with AH-1W).

2) Rotor & Drive train components are 100% interchangeable between Gunship AH-1Z and Troop Transport UH-1Y.

3) 84% of all helicopter components are common between Yankee & Zulu.

4) Installation of Bearingless Main Rotor has reduced parts count from a standard articulated rotor by 75%.

5) Installation of Bearingless Main Rotor has reduced overall vibratory levels by 70% from AH-1W levels, contributing to extended electronic equipment life. (life expectancy not-yet-quantified). The composite material (thick laminate fiberglass) used for the bearingless main rotor prevents corrosion from degrading those components, assisting with the overall durability of the rotor in service.

6) The only lubricated component in the main / tail rotor hubs/blades/controls is the main rotor swashplate bearing. Basically one installs new upgrade main and tail rotors on a new airframe and flies with the only replacement items being elastomeric main rotor shear restraints (qty 4), elastomeric / liquid dampers (qty 8), lubricate (grease) (1) swashplate bearing and replace tail rotor elastomeric flapping bearings (set of 4).

7) Page 4-9 Flt. Man. VNE = 200 KIAS. Stable flight demonstrated 223 KCAS in slight dive with symmetrical pull-up.

8) Original sized gonads proven to be adequate, thus no requirement for AH-64 Apache’s modified main rotor “Mega Nuts” (joke).

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United States Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade aircraft

AH-1Z’s 07 December 2018, 18th anniversary of first flight: 6574 days with zero incidents.

The four events that I am aware of (public data) are as follows:

20 Jan 2017, engine warning light, precautionary night landing, Ikei Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
8 Jan 2018, 4:45 P.M. local, T/R warning light, precautionary landing, Okinawa, Japan, wiring issue.
23 Jan 2018, 8:00 P.M. local, warning light, precautionary landing, Tonaki Is., Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
1 June 2018, low oil pressure warning light, precautionary landing, Fallbrook Airpark, N.E. San Diego, instrumentation.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year OOH – RAH!

[Lonewolf_50]

Otter:
Are there more FMS orders pending?

[Otterotor]

Lonewolf,

As I understand, the current FMS interest is:

Pakistan's 15 Zulus are on hold ... not delivered and not certain they ever will be.
Bahrain ordered 12 Zulus.
Other countries interested in Y's and Z's but no orders.
Japan interested in replacing older AH-1S cobras, no orders.

[SansAnhedral]

Romania issued a letter of request for 21 Venom and 24 Vipers over the summer

[Otterotor]

https://www.marines.mil/News/Press-Releases/Press-Release-Display/Article/1801186/ah-1z-helicopter-crash-at-marine-corps-weapons-and-tactics-instructor-course/

Thoughts and prayers go out to pilot's and copilot's family and friends.

Crash under investigation. Otter

[Lonewolf_50]

Crash under investigation. Otter Well :mad:
Semper Fi
Hand Salute
Taps

WTI mission.

[LRP]

RIP

Worked with MAWTS quite a few times over the years, good bunch of guys.

[nomorehelosforme]

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-southern-az/yuma/two-marine-pilots-killed-in-helicopter-crash-near-yuma-saturday-night

RIP

[Otterotor]

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United States Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade aircraft.
AH-1Z's 07 December 2019, 19th anniversary of first flight: 6939 days, 1 accident, 2 fatalities (30 March 2019, Yuma Az.)


H-1 Upgrades Rotor Accomplishments Recorded from Otter's Rotor Structural Analysis and Flight Test Experience
22 November 2019

1. Identical (From Y’s to Z’s) Main & Tail Rotor Part Numbers on Rotor Components.

1st qualification of same part numbered main and tail rotors on 2 (two) different (Y’s & Z’s) airframes for a very discriminating Marine Corps customer. This fact contributes to the 84% common part numbers between the 2 (two) different airframes of Yankee’s vs. Zulu’s.



2. Main Rotor Components with 10,000 hour Fatigue Lives.

1st main / tail rotor qualified with 85% or greater of the rotor components having 10,000 hours fatigue lives or greater.



3. Bearingless Main / Tail Rotors.

1st viable (33 year endurance, relatively low life-cycle cost) BEARINGLESS main / tail rotors qualified, contributing to the total H-1 Upgrade MARINIZED design features. This fact allows for no requirement to lubricate main rotor components above the main swashplate duplex bearing and resulting in a main rotor parts count reduction of 75% below current articulated four bladed main rotor designs.



4. Marinized Attack and Utility Helicopters by Design

1st marinized helicopter rotor design with features incorporated at design initiation, November 1996. This effort directed at minimizing negative effects of corrosion through use of composites, corrosion resistant steels, appropriately protected aluminum, and employing corrosion protective sealants on fasteners. Also includes shipboard tie-down points, Main rotor brakes for quick rotor shutdown, blade folding for below deck stowage and EMI protected electric cables for resistance to powerful shipboard RADAR interference with weapon systems.



5. Eliminate Transmission Vibration Isolation

1st Bell designed helicopter with all main transmission vibration isolation eliminated and no frahm-dampers in the main rotor head. This contributes to the massive M/R parts count reduction. Previously Bell patented ‘Noda-Magic’, ‘Nodal Beams’, or ‘Focused Pylon Mounting’ systems are eliminated. Utility Transport UH-1Y ‘Yankee’ receives regular duty assignment from USMC as a Sniper Helicopter, a mission profile that requires a smooth and stable firing platform.


6. Eliminate Hydraulically Boosted Main Rotor Control Levers

1st Bell designed Main Rotor Control System eliminating all levers and control tubes between the main rotor boost actuators and the main rotor non-rotating swashplate. All three (3) actuator outputs are directly connected to receiving lugs on the lower surface of the non-rotating swashplate. Thus all mechanical mixing of controls is replaced by electronic signal mixing to the boost actuators.



7. Feathering and Flapping Flexure’s fatigue limit good for Hot–Wet environmental reductions

1st Bell Military Production Bearingless Feathering Flexure that is good for a required +8 +/-17 degrees of steady state feathering. This is a result of:

A. The new feathering flexure basic radial flange section.
B. The basic section feathering flexure length with blade attach located at 25% rotor radius.
C. Pre-twisting the main rotor cuff 5 (five) degrees to reduce the 13 (thirteen) degrees of steady feathering required down to 8 (eight) degrees.

The feathering and flapping flexure’s fatigue margins accommodate a required 21% reduction of the Room-Temperature-Dry fatigue allowables for Hot – Wet environmental conditions.



8. Main Rotor In-Plane Dampers

1st Bell Helicopter 4 (four) bladed main rotor dampers are made from 3 (three) materials functioning as dampers. Conventional external elastomerics with steel shims, internal proprietary liquid (good for operating temperatures from 125° F to -65° F) and a compressed gas in the internal cavity. This combination addresses large displacement – high energy damping associated with the first-in-plane natural frequency displacement damping, and low displacement – relatively low energy damping associated with ‘limit’ cycling oscillatory displacements. The dampers contribute to item 5 stability.




9. No Prototypes or Remaining Test Aircraft.

1st new clean-sheet rotor design helicopter flight test qualification effort with 0 (zero) prototypes being used and 0 (zero) test aircraft remaining after post qualification testing. 4 (four) out of 5 (five) test aircraft were maintained in production configuration and DD-250 delivered to Marine Corps Customer as production aircraft. Upon completion of the Flight Test Program, March 2006, the four DD-250 aircraft departed PAX early morning, formed up and flew cross-country to MCAS Camp Pendleton, Ca. with just fuel stops and one overnight stay. The 5th aircraft (Z-1), with older steam gage (vs. digital) instrument panel, was used as ballistics test article and provided the required ballistic tolerance test data, generated at China Lake, California.




10. H-1 Upgrades Flight Test Location and Personnel.

1st Bell Helicopter, U.S. Military complete qualification flight test effort to take place 1500 miles away from Bell’s Flight Test Center located in Arlington, Texas. Marine Corps Customer had awarded Flight Test Program to low bidder DynCorp, after which, during preliminary flight test setup, it was concluded by the Marine Corps Customer, that the expertise DynCorp had claimed in the Flight Testing Field was non-existent. Marine Corps subsequently informed Bell Helicopter that if Bell wanted to complete the sale of H-1 Upgrade helicopters (Y’s and Z’s) to the Marine Corps, Bell was going to have to help DynCorp conduct the flight test qualification. Bell quickly assembled a ‘skeleton’ flight test team consisting mainly of the original Design Team (due to reluctance of existing flight test personnel to relocate to PAX River for four (4) years). Two (2) very qualified and helpful Bell Helicopter flight test engineers, Mr. Mark Robinson and Mr. Eric Gibson did indeed relocate from Texas to Maryland for the flight test qualification effort. Thus Bell’s skeleton flight test team set out to qualify the Marine Corps’ 1st bearingless rotor at a test site 1500 miles to the East while simultaneously instructing and teaching DynCorp how to conduct a flight test program. This particular flight test program ultimately included four (4) unique modification programs to the airframes requiring fixture jigs to be transported to PAX from Texas and laser leveled and secured for close tolerance airframe modifications. The transport of equipment and/or components to/from Texas was a two (2) day trip one way. While dealing with the unions at Bell Fort Worth it was necessary to overcome union resistance (adding to schedule delays) at Bell due to non-union work being conducted at PAX River, Md.




11. Deep State’s (Two Bladed, Articulated M/R, Focused Pylon Attach Patent Holders) Insurance Policy.

And if items 1 thru 10 and the new issues being resolved weren’t going to be difficult enough to overcome, some additional complicating factors were introduced just as flight test was beginning and of course the rotor design had been fatigue tested and frozen. Bell management, including the Fatigue Group management, introduced 4 (four) significant design criteria changes as follows: (all introduced in the name of helping the predicted weak link main rotor yoke flapping flexure survive the demanding flight spectrum, yet all (100%) of the already introduced design criteria changes were going to make the fiberglass main rotor yoke flapping flexure work harder as detailed below.)



A. Increase G.W. from 17,500 lbs. to 18,500 lbs. (5.7% increase and will generate approximately 3% more flapping displacement with 3% higher oscillatory beam shear loads; measured, with the predominate failure of the flapping flexure being mid-plane shear delamination).
B. Change the static elevator to fly-by-wire elevator to minimize airframe drag at Vh. (Will increase oscillatory beam shears by approximately 3%; measured).
C. Change the main rotor mast attachment clamp plate on the upper surface of the yokes from circular to racetrack. (Increases the oscillatory beam shears by 3%; measured).
D. Increase the main rotor RPM 3% from 287 to 296. This will effectively stiffen the flapping flexure and will result in increased oscillatory beam shears due to flapping being a displacement driven parameter with the beam shears resulting from the displacement. (Increases the oscillatory beam shears by 3%; measured).

This should theoretically have destroyed the originally designed, marginally acceptable, flapping flexure of the fiberglass main rotor yoke. But (Thank Goodness) toward the end of fatigue testing and prior to fabrication of the flight test article main rotor yokes, rotor structures engineers made a physical change to the flapping flexure that contributed to an approximate 20% improvement in fatigue capability. 20% is a huge number in the Fatigue world with improvements of 2 or 3% being a ‘Big Deal’. So the flapping flexure has been able to handle all the loading it has seen so far and should continue to do so for a long time.


Ernest Powell
NASCC
22 November 2019

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year OOH - RAH!

[Otterotor]

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United States Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade Aircraft!

6687 days with zero incidents, 7305 days with one incident (occuring 30 March 2019, Yuma Az.)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year OOH-RAH!

Otterotor

[Otterotor]

South Korea to decide between KUH-1 and AH-1Z Zulu.

[MeddlMoe]

Congratulations! :D

I am surprised by the low vibration levels on a flexbeam rotor. Is it only an improvement over the old 2-blade rotor, or is the vibration level even low compared to other 4-bladed rotors?

I find it also strange that there are limit stops for the flapping angle. The Ansat does not need limit stops, neither does the EC135, nor the BK117/H145. Is there a special reason for this?

[Otterotor]

MeddlMoe, thanks,

A. While the flexbeam design contributes to lower vibration levels, the mass distribution in the blade is the main vibration reducer. Some two bladers can be balanced for smooth rides; 206B, 206L, 214ST. The 214ST ride quality would degrade with altitude and the in-flight adjustable pitch link length would bring the ride quality back in as one gained altitude. Some 4 bladed helos have frahm dampers to reduce 4P vibes; UH-60s, Bell 407s. Some 4 bladers have pendulum weights tuned to 4P; Bell 412s, BO 105s. The Yankee - Zulus are tuned such that they require no pendulums, frahms and no pylon isolation treatment.
B. Downstops help keep the flexbeam in a slight state of tension at rest or statically or 0 RPM but if it had been left up to me I would have eliminated the upstops from the design to reduce parts count.

Otterrotor

[Otterotor]

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United States Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade Aircraft!



AH-1Z First Flight: 7 December 2000, Reported Accidents: 1, 30 March 2019. Low Level – High Speed - NVG Night Training Flight.

Yuma, Az., 2 Fatalities, CFIT. 6,687 days with zero incidents, 7,670 days with one incident, no mechanical failures.

Although both the Yankee and Zulu spend time over sea water, neither aircraft have yet to be surrounded by 100% water (7,670 days).

U.S. Marine Corps production run scheduled to complete January 2022. Bahrain production to follow.

Original design initiated November 1996, clean sheet, rotor components designed (including main rotor yoke, cuff, blade, mast, rotating controls, main transmission, tail rotor drive shafts, intermediate gearbox, ninety degree gearbox, tail rotor rotating controls, tail rotor mast, tail rotor hub and blades), parts fabricated, fatigue test machines designed and fabricated along with composite tooling designed and fabricated (unique thick laminate technology), one or two of each main component fatigue tested (complete sets of six fatigue test articles for each rotor component have subsequently been completed), aircraft assembled and flown, all in approx. four years. No prototypes! 4 of the 5 test aircraft were DD-250’d (production configuration delivered, four of five test aircraft self-deployed simultaneously East Coast to West Coast USA at termination of Flight Test Effort, 8:00 A.M. May 9th 2006 2 days after completion of flight test effort) to the customer as production aircraft, with the fifth being shot up at Edward’s live fire testing on west coast. Thus the safety record detailed above has all been accomplished using the original design rotor systems (main and tail).

Main Rotor Hub Redesigns: One (1) initiated & pursued by OEM Bell Helicopter for approximately ten years (2002 to 2012) (and $80 mil) with no results to show for it. Zero redesigns completed, implemented or incorporated (not needed).

The Marine Corps has more-than-made-up the loss of approximately $80 million spent on the unproductive (0.00 results) effort to redesign the H-1 Upgrade main rotor with financial returns on the unused pre-determined & assigned airframe attrition rates of 1 unit per annum for the AH-1Z Viper (@ approximately $31 million / copy) and 1.5 predicted annual attrition rate for the UH-1Y Venom (@ approximately $26 million / copy).

OOH - RAH! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


Ernie Powell 06 Dec 2021

Lead Rotor Structural Design Engineer

Yankee/Zulu H-1 Upgrades BHTI (Ret.)

[chopper2004]

I attended Le Bourget on a very wet wednesday a decade and half ago :) and saw my first Zulu, if I recall they entered service IOC the year before fully? My photos below


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220121_d5e0996af5fec0d13a92e1b7e83c30c0e700439d.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220123_13fb653969e0cadea26be6e1f5f40cbae08caed6.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220126_181ada84c89952ee52d4860d832124c345c01a6a.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220131_18121973ee58233f759c4fc6982742398d4adb89.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220133_767b0196398067b9440fa6e3bb23c5dcd4dc5f24.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220137_49d95db5781f195eb0498cd69c6656d3aed8a32a.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220138_fe479f1657f66fffbccbe11af16582b1594532db.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220139_9c333a87d18f7118c4fcb61e34d3e2a836571e77.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220152_658df9b344882664b64f54c981cb70e4f27705c5.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/p6220156_74b148c3f533e25a469def59678fae852496d723.jpg

The UH-1Y was there as well, laughingly year before at Farrnborough Air Show I saw the UH-1Y from Camp Pendleton,,,think the Zulu and Yankee at Paris were from Camp Pendleton.

Also recently one Zulu was painted in retro camouflage of the late 80s / ealy 90s.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43232/this-marine-ah-1z-viper-looks-amazing-in-a-throwback-sea-cobra-paint-scheme

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/300x168/index_1250a730dd67691416246be89cceadaf3ab190c8.jpg


Cheers

[chopper2004]

Lonewolf,

As I understand, the current FMS interest is:

Pakistan's 15 Zulus are on hold ... not delivered and not certain they ever will be.
Bahrain ordered 12 Zulus.
Other countries interested in Y's and Z's but no orders.
Japan interested in replacing older AH-1S cobras, no orders.

In October there was the first assembled Bahrain AH-1Z

https://news.bellflight.com/en-US/203690-bell-completes-first-bahrain-ah-1z-viper

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x768/5dms6jugynfllnr3jssl4op2ue_65912c733d24a474346dbc2ab6ffe3ef4 feca6af.jpg

[Otterotor]

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United Stated Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade Aircraft

AH-1Z's 07 December 2022, 22nd anniversary of first flight, with 6687 days with zero fatal incidents.
1st fatal Zulu incident: 30 March 2019, Low Level - High Speed - NVG night training flight, Yuma Arizona.
2 instructor fatalities, CFIT, no mechanical failures found during investigation, aircraft type not grounded.
8035 days with one fatal incident.
The seven events that I am aware of (public accessed data) are as follows:

1) 20 Jan. 2017, engine warning light, precautionary night landing, Ikei Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
2) 08 Jan 2018, 4:45 P.M. local, T/R/ warning light, precautionary landing, Okinawa, Japan, wiring issue.
3) 23 Jan 2018, 8:00 P.M. local, warning light, precautionary landing, Tonaki Is. Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
4) 01 June 2018, low oil pressure warning light, precautionary landing, Fallbrook Airpark, N.E. San Diego, instrumentation.
5) 30 March 2019, Low Altitude - High Speed NVG night training flight detailed above.
6) 06 Jan. 2022, Autorotation practice near Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, N.J. USA. Pilot not prepared to accommodate
rapid descent rate during practice auto. Significant landing gear damage. 2 occupants received unspecified injuries, no fatalities.
7) 13 Jan 2022, precautionary landing at Tonaki Heliport Okinawa, Japan, due to an indication of a hydraulic fluid leak.
Flew out next day and returned to base. 2 occupants, no personnel injured.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year OOH - RAH!
07 December 2022, Ernie Powell
Congrats to V-280 Valor Team!

[Lonewolf_50]

Still disappointed that our friends from Oz didn't get the Viper. :uhoh:
Oh well.

[SASless]

It may not be an Apache...but it is a darn good attack helicopter for sure.

[Otterotor]

https://verticalmag.com/press-releases/bell-h-1-fleet-surpasses-half-a-million-flight-hours/

Otterotor

[Lonewolf_50]

I wonder if the production line can be kept warm for FMS. There may be a customer in Eastern Europe soon.

[Commando Cody]

I wonder if the production line can be kept warm for FMS. There may be a customer in Eastern Europe soon.

Someone has to be willing to pay for those units built to keep the production line warm. If the US Gov't isn't willing to pay, the question would be would Textron/Bell be willing to build them on spec. realizing that if there isn't an approved by the USG sale, it has to eat the cost. For example, Boeing has said that absent a signed order by X date (this essentially means India) they will shut the Super Hornet line down; they're not going to order long term lead items "just in case". The C-17 is similar but came about a little different. Once USAF said it wasn't ordering any more Boeing announced that absent confirmed orders by a certain date they were shutting down. Now this was slightly different becasue Boeing felt there was still a demand out there. So it announced it was shutting down the line in 2015, but before then it would build 10 "White Tails", betting that they would all sell, given the worldwide interest. They were built entirely with Boeing's money. It was expected that most would go to India, but their pronouncement bureaucracy is much worse than even ours. While they were hemming and hawing and routing the planned order through their innumerable hoops, other nations stepped up and bought most of the C-17s built on spec so India didn't get all it wanted. Still, Boeing sold them al, so this was a good gamble. Given how the market is, though, I don't see Bell making the same commitment

[PhlyingGuy]

The Marines basically mothballed brand new ones... so that's where any foreign sales are likely to come from.

[Otterotor]

Congratulations are in order to the men and women of the United Stated Marine Corps who fly and maintain the H-1 Upgrade Aircraft

AH-1Z's 07 December 2023, 23rd anniversary of first flight, with 6687 days with zero fatal incidents.
1st fatal Zulu incident: 30 March 2019, Low Level - High Speed - NVG night training flight, Yuma Arizona.
2 instructor fatalities, CFIT, no mechanical failures found during investigation, aircraft type not grounded.
8400 days with one fatal incident.
The seven events that I am aware of (public accessed data) are as follows:

1) 20 Jan. 2017, engine warning light, precautionary night landing, Ikei Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
2) 08 Jan 2018, 4:45 P.M. local, T/R/ warning light, precautionary landing, Okinawa, Japan, wiring issue.
3) 23 Jan 2018, 8:00 P.M. local, warning light, precautionary landing, Tonaki Is. Okinawa, Japan, instrumentation.
4) 01 June 2018, low oil pressure warning light, precautionary landing, Fallbrook Airpark, N.E. San Diego, instrumentation.
5) 30 March 2019, Low Altitude - High Speed NVG night training flight detailed above.
6) 06 Jan. 2022, Autorotation practice near Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst, N.J. USA. Pilot not prepared to accommodate
rapid descent rate during practice auto. Significant landing gear damage. 2 occupants received unspecified injuries, no fatalities.
7) 13 Jan 2022, precautionary landing at Tonaki Heliport Okinawa, Japan, due to an indication of a hydraulic fluid leak.
Flew out next day and returned to base. 2 occupants, no personnel injured.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year OOH - RAH!
07 December 2023, Ernie Powell
Congrats to V-280 Valor Team!
And may Team Invictus have the winning Fara solution!
Reference Post #29 for attached white paper information.

[Lonewolf_50]

They made it beautiful out of kindness, because it's the last thing that the enemy will see ...
:E
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x418/feature_1_b9c99aa954b2406688b7c156257a313380de8e2b.jpg