what is this helicopter?
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: JMC Mining Ship, Red Dwarf. 3 million years from earth.
what is this helecopter?
I took this photo at Venice, Florida (N543FH) on 1st May 2001 and I'm still trying to work out what it is!! can anyone help? ? ?
many thanks
LJ
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 564
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From: Chilliwack, BC Canada
Fairchild Hiller FH 1100, More info here......
http://avia.russian.ee/vertigo/fair_fh-100-r.html
Info on the aircraft pictured from the FAA website:.......
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAA Registry
N-Number Inquiry Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N543FH is Assigned
Assigned/Registered Aircraft
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 43 Type Registration Individual
Manufacturer Name FAIRCHILD HILLER Certificate Issue Date 11/08/2002
Model FH-1100 Status Valid
Type Aircraft Rotorcraft Type Engine Turbo-Shaft
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 51561626
MFR Year 1967 Fractional Owner NO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered Owner
Name DEKKERS RUDI
Street 178 TOPANGA DR
City BONITA SPRINGS State FLORIDA Zip Code 34134-8544
County COLLIER
Country UNITED STATES
http://avia.russian.ee/vertigo/fair_fh-100-r.html
Info on the aircraft pictured from the FAA website:.......
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAA Registry
N-Number Inquiry Results
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N543FH is Assigned
Assigned/Registered Aircraft
Aircraft Description
Serial Number 43 Type Registration Individual
Manufacturer Name FAIRCHILD HILLER Certificate Issue Date 11/08/2002
Model FH-1100 Status Valid
Type Aircraft Rotorcraft Type Engine Turbo-Shaft
Pending Number Change None Dealer No
Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 51561626
MFR Year 1967 Fractional Owner NO
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered Owner
Name DEKKERS RUDI
Street 178 TOPANGA DR
City BONITA SPRINGS State FLORIDA Zip Code 34134-8544
County COLLIER
Country UNITED STATES
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 622
Likes: 0
From: Gaithersburg, MD
The current manufacturer is based in Florida. Yes, they still make these critters. There is a photo gallery on their website (ugly paint schemes). Has anyone flown one of these lately?
http://www.fh1100.com/index.html
http://www.fh1100.com/index.html
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 943
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From: Gold Coast, Queensland
I did about 400 hours in the FH1100 in Papua New Guinea in the late 60s. It had a derated C18 engine and had a surprisingly lot of grunt doing mountain top landings up to 12500. A 206A couldn't hold a candle to it for altitude work.
Sad to say my first instructor was killed in a FH1100 when he appeared upside from low cloud during a display at a Paris airshow.
Sad to say my first instructor was killed in a FH1100 when he appeared upside from low cloud during a display at a Paris airshow.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,012
Likes: 1
From: USA
the FH-1100 was built to compete in the uS Army scout helo program, the LOH, back in the early 60's, along with the Bell 206 forerunner, and the Hughes OH-6. The OH-6 won, but both Fairchild-Hiller and Bell produced their designs for civil use anyway. All used the Allison T63 engine.
The Hughes won hands down, it was said, due to its excellent low weight, high payload design, and its crisp articulated rotor which gave it great handling qualities.
The Hughes won hands down, it was said, due to its excellent low weight, high payload design, and its crisp articulated rotor which gave it great handling qualities.
Iconoclast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,132
Likes: 0
From: The home of Dudley Dooright-Where the lead dog is the only one that gets a change of scenery.
Servo mechanisms
While working for Douglas Aircraft Missiles and Space Division I worked on a consulting basis for Wallace O. Leonard company in Pasadena, California. I along with two colleagues designed the servos for the FH-1100 that was being proposed by Hiller for the LOH program for the US Army. Had Fairchild been successful in the competition my design would been on the helicopter. The design took two days and we did it in a small cottage overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, CA.
The servo had a mechanical disconnect ala Sikorsky and everything in the design was directly from the Douglas Aircraft design manual. Several were built and they performed very well. The design requirements dictated high reliability but in event of any failure the servo would be sh!t canned.
Each servo contained a small accumulator, which predated the servos used on Aerospatial helicopters.
The OH-6 (OH-58) was chosen for the second production run even though the FH-1100 outperformed it. To keep Hiller in business the US Government contracted for FH-1100s, which were given to police forces of allies of the United States.
Note: Mechanical disconnect is the correct name for “Sloppy link”.
The servo had a mechanical disconnect ala Sikorsky and everything in the design was directly from the Douglas Aircraft design manual. Several were built and they performed very well. The design requirements dictated high reliability but in event of any failure the servo would be sh!t canned.
Each servo contained a small accumulator, which predated the servos used on Aerospatial helicopters.
The OH-6 (OH-58) was chosen for the second production run even though the FH-1100 outperformed it. To keep Hiller in business the US Government contracted for FH-1100s, which were given to police forces of allies of the United States.
Note: Mechanical disconnect is the correct name for “Sloppy link”.
Gatvol
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 4,197
Likes: 1
From: KLAS/TIST/FAJS/KFAI
407 driver. I was looking through some stuff the other day and actually have one of the original photos of the aircraft picture you posted. Yes the first B206/OH-58 looked like that. Very similar to the FH-1100. Bell made some major changes before the OH-58A hit the street.
Iconoclast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,132
Likes: 0
From: The home of Dudley Dooright-Where the lead dog is the only one that gets a change of scenery.
A slight clarification.
To: Bert
When Bell lost out to Hughes on the LOACH contract they were left with that pug-ugly helicopter shown in the picture. They wanted to take it to commercial production and turned the design over to Raymond Loewy studios in New York City. Raymond Loewy was one of the preeminent industrial designers in the United States. When the second order for 1400 OH-6s came up Hughes raised the price, as they had not really made a profit on the first 1400 OH-6s. Hughes never invested in the OH-6 program and all of the tooling for the structure was made of plaster instead of metal. This plaster tooling was used on the first 1400 OH-6s and all of the commercial models of the H-500 (model 369) that were sold commercially until MacDac took them over. I do not know if that tooling is still being used.
The Army rejected the new cost structure and turned to Bell even though the FH-1100 would have been a better choice. It was the commercial version designed by the Loewy studios that the Army chose for the second production run.
When Bell lost out to Hughes on the LOACH contract they were left with that pug-ugly helicopter shown in the picture. They wanted to take it to commercial production and turned the design over to Raymond Loewy studios in New York City. Raymond Loewy was one of the preeminent industrial designers in the United States. When the second order for 1400 OH-6s came up Hughes raised the price, as they had not really made a profit on the first 1400 OH-6s. Hughes never invested in the OH-6 program and all of the tooling for the structure was made of plaster instead of metal. This plaster tooling was used on the first 1400 OH-6s and all of the commercial models of the H-500 (model 369) that were sold commercially until MacDac took them over. I do not know if that tooling is still being used.
The Army rejected the new cost structure and turned to Bell even though the FH-1100 would have been a better choice. It was the commercial version designed by the Loewy studios that the Army chose for the second production run.
Iconoclast
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,132
Likes: 0
From: The home of Dudley Dooright-Where the lead dog is the only one that gets a change of scenery.
A man amongst hogs.
To: IHL
First of all I’m 73 years old and have been in the industry since 1955. Secondly, as they say if you wallow with hogs some hog sh!t will stick to you. I have wallowed with a lot of aerospace hogs in that time and the sh!t in this case is knowledge and experience. Besides that I got the bit about Raymond Loewy from Aviation Leak and Space Technology and I was working at Hughes as a consultant when the bidding for the follow-on contract was taking place.
Regarding the sloppy link (mechanical disconnect) I believe the two are one in the same. This is not to say there are not other types of mechanical disconnect. In the case of the sloppy link any pilot input displaces the servo valve but does not come in direct mechanical contact with the servo. If hydraulic power is lost and it is a single piston servo pilot input will bottom out on the sloppy link and displace the servo mechanically.
On a typical servo (Sikorsky) the total mechanical movement on the sloppy link is +/- .006. However the servo valve must be displaced no more than .002 to make the servo move. Understanding this you can see that the sloppy link will never bottom out until hydraulic pressure is lost.
One time the French who were flying H-34s sent a letter to Sikorsky asking clarification of the term sloppy link. However the French did not have a term for sloppy so they addressed the “dirty link” and Sikorsky did not know what they were talking about.
First of all I’m 73 years old and have been in the industry since 1955. Secondly, as they say if you wallow with hogs some hog sh!t will stick to you. I have wallowed with a lot of aerospace hogs in that time and the sh!t in this case is knowledge and experience. Besides that I got the bit about Raymond Loewy from Aviation Leak and Space Technology and I was working at Hughes as a consultant when the bidding for the follow-on contract was taking place.
Regarding the sloppy link (mechanical disconnect) I believe the two are one in the same. This is not to say there are not other types of mechanical disconnect. In the case of the sloppy link any pilot input displaces the servo valve but does not come in direct mechanical contact with the servo. If hydraulic power is lost and it is a single piston servo pilot input will bottom out on the sloppy link and displace the servo mechanically.
On a typical servo (Sikorsky) the total mechanical movement on the sloppy link is +/- .006. However the servo valve must be displaced no more than .002 to make the servo move. Understanding this you can see that the sloppy link will never bottom out until hydraulic pressure is lost.
One time the French who were flying H-34s sent a letter to Sikorsky asking clarification of the term sloppy link. However the French did not have a term for sloppy so they addressed the “dirty link” and Sikorsky did not know what they were talking about.
Last edited by Lu Zuckerman; 14th May 2004 at 02:52.
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 37
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From: Fort Lauderdale, FL
This particular aircraft may not exist anymore. The owner, Rudi Dekkers, had a mechanical failure in flight of some sort about a year ago and ditched his (this?) helicopter in a river somewhere near Venice. Dekkers swam ashore, rang the doorbell at a nearby house and used their phone to contact authorities, after which he jumped into the owner's swimming pool to wash off the fuel from his clothes.
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 943
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From: Gold Coast, Queensland
I don't recall any mast bumping problems but then I haven't flown it since 1970. I do remember the Bendix (?) coupling had a bad reputation. The pilot who relieved me two days later flew into the top of Mt Otto in PNG and all 3 on board died. The Bendix coupling was broken but I never heard if it broke before or after the tragic accident.
I remember the autos were much more hairy than in a Bell 206 or 47!!
I remember the autos were much more hairy than in a Bell 206 or 47!!
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 148
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From: Cornwall
This is all very interesting. My (obviously flawed) understanding was that Hiller had the tender sewn up, but the process was subverted by Hughes and the OH-6 was chosen.
There followed a Congressional investigation which characterised the Hughes campaign as "booze, broads and bribery" and ordered the competition to be rerun. Hiller refused to take part and quit the helicopter industry. Howard Hughes was not prosecuted because he lost heavily on every machine he made for the military, and anyway he was by that time a raving lunatic.
Stan Hiller, who I believe is still alive, subsequently became a billionaire on the proceeds of his corporate rescues. I think at one time he had turned around 17 Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore he engineered the takeover of the Hughes Tool Company and profited hugely from the deal. Way to go, Stan.
I believe Jack Real has just written a book about his time with Hughes. Anybody read it? Does it shed any light on this subject?
There followed a Congressional investigation which characterised the Hughes campaign as "booze, broads and bribery" and ordered the competition to be rerun. Hiller refused to take part and quit the helicopter industry. Howard Hughes was not prosecuted because he lost heavily on every machine he made for the military, and anyway he was by that time a raving lunatic.
Stan Hiller, who I believe is still alive, subsequently became a billionaire on the proceeds of his corporate rescues. I think at one time he had turned around 17 Fortune 500 companies. Furthermore he engineered the takeover of the Hughes Tool Company and profited hugely from the deal. Way to go, Stan.
I believe Jack Real has just written a book about his time with Hughes. Anybody read it? Does it shed any light on this subject?