Sea King at Low level overhead Chorleywood /Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire

[Foz2]

Very surprised to see a Sea King at very low level over my village today at about 1030 heading south west- must have been no higher than 400 ft agl. Never ever seen one in this neck of the woods before - perhaps the Duke of Cambridge on a dash to the Hospital.......!!!

Interested to know what that was all about if anyone knows?

Best, Foz2

[OafOrfUxAche]

very low level

no higher than 400 ft agl

Eh?

over my village today at about 1030 heading south west

the Duke of Cambridge on a dash to the Hospital

Eh?

[kilomikedelta]

Can't happen in Canada now. Our Sea Kings have been grounded indefinitely.

Canada?s military suspends flights of Sea King helicopters | Toronto Star

[oldgrubber]

Kilo,

You don't ground a helicopter fleet indefinitely because:
a) a bit of undercarriage broke.
b) or a "taxying accident".
As an ex Seaking man I can tell you there is nothing mysterious about what probably happened, we've seen it all in one form or other over the years from collapsed oleos to brakes that weren't released or were applied too early, exploding tyres to sponsons detaching themselves from the aircraft. It's all in the big book of "different ways to break a Seaking".
They can't afford to ground their Seakings anyway as the Cyclone is still not fit for use and they've already reconfigured at least one of their ships to carry Seaking again.

Cheers now

[seadrills]

What colour Sea King was it? Red, Yellow, Grey or Green?

Where is your "neck of the woods"

[kilomikedelta]

oldgrubber;

Thank you for your experienced insight as a Seaking engineer. Lt. Col. Hawthorne (now a full colonel in the latest journo blurb) who said he had never seen anything like it before, has probably never had a spot of hydraulic fluid on his uniform since being commissioned.

If the Seaking did, in fact, lose all its main rotor blades due to ground impact, what would be the effect of that impulse load on all the mechanical gubbins between them and the main airframe? Would the cost of structural integrity assessment and replacement, if necessary, be worth returning the craft to operational duty?

Thanks,

P.s. I think Boeing/Sikorsky has too much on their plate now to spend the resources to convince anyone that the Cyclone is airworthy for military operations.

[oldgrubber]

Kilo,

I loved the old girl before we went Merlin but after that long in service ( 33 years of which I saw), there really wasn't anything new to break (all respect to the officer though).
If the damage was as severe as you say then the whole transmission system will be a write off as well as main lift frames (which take the gearbox) 290 and 243.
There may also be airframe damage beyond the cabin area and the tail cone may have been compromised, not forgetting overstressing the landing gear and sponsons by tipping forward. If the damage is too severe they will weigh it up against the remaining need for the airframe against cost before it is replaced by the Cyclone. I've seen our MASU guys bring some pretty hopeless cases back from the dead!

Cheers now

[kilomikedelta]

oldgrubber,

I'll trust our engineers have the same know-how as yours.

My concern is the fuselage. As you know, alumin(i)um alloys bend, especially unpredictably, with torque, which might impose a constant, asymmetrical stress on the aircraft, possibly leading to problems in the future.

Cheers,

[gr4techie]

I saw a photo of one SAR Seaking that landed on top of a mountain and rolled over, all the way down to the bottom of the slope. Came to a rest looking rather sorry for itself on its side with every panel dented. I was informed its back flying.

Does Lossie still have the Seaking where they snapped the tail off and stuck it back on again with bodge tape, Blu Tac and the office stapler? I think I saw it with patches all the way around the circumference of the tail.

Indestructible.

Years ago when I was rock climbing I looked down and saw Seakings fly past lower than we were. They did some impressive flying around tight corries and down narrow glens.

[Foz2]

This is why I 'love' pprune.

Refering to the questions above:

Seadrills:
What clour was it : yellow
Where is my neck of the woods: as per the title, chorleywood just nw of london near denham.

OafOrfUxAche:
Thanks for your really helpful response. To see a seaking over my house, nowhere near the sea at around 3/400 ft is very unusual. Very little call for SAR around us! . I was making a joke about William perhaps rushing to get to the birth of his iminent baby.

[airborne_artist]

A yellow one could have been carrying out a hospital transfer of a patient.

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

I saw a photo of one SAR Seaking [sic] that landed on top of a mountain
and rolled over, all the way down to the bottom of the slope.

Slight exaggeration perhaps but yes it was a hard impact which thanks to the skill of Steve H****** proved survivable both to the occupants and the airframe. A copy of said photo was presented by Steve as a leaving gift a year or two later with the caption underneath "Thanks for a smashing tour!".

Does Lossie still have the Seaking [sic] where they snapped the tail off and stuck it
back on again with bodge tape, Blu Tac and the office stapler? I think I saw it
with patches all the way around the circumference of the tail.

No exaggeration here (!) but yes that airframe is still going strong. In fact every yellow Sea King ever built is still in service today, though it won't be long before the airframes start being withdrawn.