'Giant hairdryer' to beat the rain

[What_does_this_button_do?]

from news.bbc.co.uk

A helicopter will be used to dry standing water

Frustrated building contractors on Tyneside are planning to use a helicopter as a "giant hairdryer" in a bid to workers back onto a rain-soaked buildnig site.

The North East's poor summer has taken its toll on the development of a 230-acre business park, with standing water causing construction bosses particular headaches.

In an effort to meet project deadlines, a helicopter firm from Newcastle has been called in, in the hope that downdraught from a chopper's rotor blades may dry up the land.

Work on the city's Newburn Riverside industrial park, which will create 5,000 jobs, has been hampered by severe downpours.

Newburn Riverside park will create 5,000 jobs

Contractors need to compact the land in preparation for building foundations.

The job can only be done when a certain amount of moisture has dried out of the soil.

Martin Burgin, owner of Eagle Helicopters, said: "This is right up there at the bizarre end of things we have been asked to do.

"At first I thought it was a wind-up but once I got down to the site I realised what the problems were."

Mr Burgin said: "The helicopter would hover a few feet from the ground and act like a massive hairdryer.

"I have never heard of this sort of thing being tried before and so it will be a trial session."

The builders need a couple of days without rain before trying the idea, but it is hoped the helicopter will be on site next week.

[The Nr Fairy]

I remember seing some film of a Bell 47 doing much the same at a cricket ground in the UK 10 or more years ago.

Can I do it ? Can't do too much damage in the hover !

[Red Wine]

Can remember seeing a B206B do the same thing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground about @) years ago.........getting the pitch ready to slaughter our "Colonial Masters" upon...!

[Nick Lappos]

This was a big problem for Boeing when building their production facility for the 747 in the late 60's early 70's. They had such rain that they ended up paving the entire plant site before constructing onit!

In the US, helos are used to mix low level air on frosty evenings in apple country to gain a few more days of growing season or to prevent late frosts from damaging the delicate flowers in the spring.

The US Army used Skycranes to kill the fog at several bases in Vietnam by flying above the fog and hovering to mix higher level dry air into the fog.

[SASless]

Hey Nick.....from what we Chinook drivers saw of the cranes in RVN....that is about what they were good for.....that and cruising around to various PZ's to critique the Blackhats efforts at slinging...then whiz off saying they were short of fuel.....or that the loads were too heavy or too light...rigged wrong. We got to calling them OH-54's at one point.

[John Eacott]

Nothing new in life. I have been used to "dry" the pitch for a couple of clubs in Melbourne, as have other operators here. First I can recall would be Windy Hill (Essendon Footy Club) about the late '80's. MCG drying was for footy, not cricket, IIRC !!

Frost protection is another regular operation, the stone fruit orchards north of Canberra, the vineyards in Victoria, and some tobacco growers, all use helicopters for frost protection. We first put it into practice about 1990, biggest problem hovering around at 50 feet all night is staying awake. Built in CD player is almost essential ;)

We always thoroughly recce the place in daylight, put lights on wires/obstructions, heavy duty spots all round on the helicopter, and carry a few workers to increase the max AUW, thus increasing downwash. Principal is to keep the air circulating, thus preventing frost forming on the crop. Alternative, which some producers use, are huge great fans permanently set up in the orchards, but the cost of helicopters on standby and operating works out less than the lease payments of the fans :rolleyes:

[Capn Notarious]

John, are there any pictures of hovering fans?

[John Eacott]

No Tarious,

Hmmmm, sensing a wind up.......... :rolleyes:

[John Eacott]

Can't answer for UK rules, but it could be private, unless it's being paid for, then becomes Aerial Work here in Oz.

Weight creates the downwash, I'd imagine the proverbial hair dryer would be more effective than a Robbo ;)

On a sealed surface, a 206 is fairly effective, depending on the amount of water to be cleared. I often used to dry our local Drag Strip at Calder Park Raceway with a LongRanger, loaded up with pax for more downwash, and a very low hover. As far as footy fields/cricket pitches, we'd really only take some of the surface water off after an hour or so with a JetRanger, but that was usually all the club needed to make the pitch "playable". Once the standing water goes, nature stands a better chance of getting normal evaporation going.

[MightyGem]

Hmm...I've blown snow away before, but that's fairly immediate. Drying out soggy ground could take a while I think. Sounds like a good, but boring, earner. :)

[widgeon]

I remember a story from Florida of using helicopters to blow warmer air onto fruit crops during light frosts . Is this just my immagination ?

[CRAN]

The downwash of a helicopter is principally dependent on the disk loading though some other factors do effect it.

The induced (ideal) downwash for a hovering R22 @ MGW would be 1445 fpm - in practice it would be a little higher.

For a Jet Ranger hovering @ MGW the ideal downwash would be 1711 fpm - again a little higher in practice.


What you really need for this application is a V22! 4500fpm! Or would that just blow a hole in the muddy ground? Mind, it would save them having to dig the foundations or pick the fruit!!!

:D

CRAN

[BlenderPilot]

I once hovered over the "high speed turn" on a local speedway so the
"cart formula" race could begin, was done on a 212 for more than 45 minutes, barely did a thing.

Then the state police 412's sometimes make a series of passes along the MMTO runway to clear fog momentarily and allow some planes to T/O, of course the fog just being a very thin layer right up against the ground.

[John Eacott]

Hovering over the 'high speed turn" :eek: Another clean up I used to get pushed into was cleaning the dust & debris off the banked turns of the NASCAR Super Speedway at Calder. The banking was too much for the street sweeper to cope with ;)

I often used to clear the cut grass off my back paddock with the LongRanger, but after 4 years of drought, there's hardly any grass left to mow :rolleyes:

[Arraitch]

In the RAAF in the early 70s, an Inter-service lawn bowls competition at Amberley was in danger of being abandoned due to the wet pitch. An Iroquois was launched to hover over it for a few hours and dry it off. It did the job nicely, and the D-category bograts loved the command time - better than doing compass swings!:cool:

Re frost patrols - spent a couple of seasons near Tumut (Snowy Mountains) flying from onset of 1 degree (around midnight) until the sun got onto the crops of stone fruit or asparagus. Hardest part was seeing the obstacles through the frequent fogs and the smoke from the smudge pots burning between the trees. Next hardest part was staying awake and alert. We carried new bograts to share the flying and to talk to us to stay awake - but sometimes the boggies dozed off despite being yelled at and nudged. But using one B206 or AS350 per 2 paddocks meant that by the time we had gone from one end to the other, the temp was getting back to zero and needed stirring again.