Chinook blades
 

I live in a valley along Red Route 1 in Dorset within which your finest Chinook drivers fly very low level and mostly at night... ive been stumped by the fact that these aircraft can be heard a few miles away as they aproach (in both directions) , even in moderately windy conditions. But lately, the decibels have declined noticeably and the famous wooka wooka noise has now seemigly gone quieter.

Before you all talk about hearing problems/atmospherics... ive been here for over 2 years and have everything fly over with regularity, but the biggest noise change is our friend the Chinook. One went overhead low level last night and wouldnt have known he was there untill 200m away in calm conditions.

New quieter blades for the fleet coming in? or the new model HC3 blades making things quieter? Anyone shed any light or in this case...sound?

Coley.

They have replaced the standard blades with those from Blue Thunder.

Seven minutes- I checked.

CG

Whisper mode on, hit the turbine boost. and where is the 20mm cannon?

Maybe you previously heard the loud results of blade slap, as the pilot pulled a lot of power on during a turn or climb? And the quiter noise is as a result of no turning point near your house, hence no blade slap? Or maybe MSD is now higher...?

TR...could be, however i have been under these guys for over 2 years of daily (18.00 - 01.00) and know most sounds from various angles and directions. They are deffo quieter these days...

Do you wear ANR headsets at home?
Have you had a hearing test lately? :ok:

Well there was one passed here last night around 10-11pm going towards Lyneham just visible in the cloud base, and it was making a right din, strange as it was straight and level. They are not normally that noisy, have they fitted noise generating blades?:}

Normally the clattering is caused by the level of rejection from mother earth as she tries to push the nasty things away from her. Maybe the quiet flight was as a result of mother earth going down the pub or just giving in and letting the darn thing fly past unhindered! :E

Maybe upon reflection im being ultra sensitive...but hearing is 20/20... still insist that the noise has been reduced from WOOKA WOOKA to wooka wooka.... we do get mostly Chinooks through here, with Sea Kings from Yeovilton and Hercules all very low level but the Chinooks have percevably changed. My secretary knows a Sqd Leader at Odiham...perhaps she could find out if its not hush hush, wink wink, say no more!!

Someone must be thinking the same as me!!?:{

No difference up here. Mebbe if yer used two Ks instead of two Os it'd be louder?:)

Get the same around here, normally Hercs, Chinooks and the Yeovilton stuff at night and i can say that i am not hearing the Chinooks half as early as i used to when either low or higher up.
Used to hear them miles off and wait for ages to see them whizz by but now it's short notice, 20-30 seconds atleast compared with much more previously.

Not saying that the Chinooks have a different blade fit but it's certainly less than it used to be in all conditions here. The daily A109's of Castle Air make more racket inbound than Chinooks now

Gainsey,

I too feel a little bit titified to of spelt Wokka wrongly...i do appologise, i was obviously typing with my elbows as my fingers were in my ears! :ugh:

Razor...

so im not the only one then!! Gods Potatoes, i thought it was all in my imagination for a second or two on this thread!

Theres deffo a decibel change...no real wokka sound for minutes before you see the beast?

Coley

Well,
Used to be able to hear them very loud for minutes before they came over at night (not so during the daytime due to the noise outside anyway) but at night for sure...
Infact one came past the other night very low but could barely hear it even with the wind coming from that direction. Within seconds of it passing the sound was gone, which is again unusual. Can usually hear it just as long with it retreating!

Must be atmospherics? As i can't recall any of the Chinooks receiving such upgrades to make them quieter.

Razor,

Could be...although it does seem a trifle interesting that its been noticable on every Chinook fly over for the last month! interesting, very interesting. Would be very interesting to hear from any "able to confirm Chinook drivers".

Change of wind direction may do it carrying the sound away from you.

The direction of the wind and the height at which they fly both make a huge difference to the footprint.
There have been no changes to the Chinooks, blades, not since the composite blades of 20 years ago nor do I think that the new 714 engines would make any difference to the blade slap. There's certainly nothing hush hush going on at Odiham, physically nor metaphorically.

Sorry to disappoint.

Have you actually seen them? Do you know they are Chinooks? Merlins are just as loud but with about 10sec rather than 10nm warning.

Yes but could you FEEL them before you heard them?