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Helicopter altitude records

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Old 11th Jun 2001, 16:12
  #1 (permalink)  
Dude~
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Post Highest heli flight

Anyone know the highest altitude ever achieved by a heli?

What is the service ceiling for an R44?
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 16:38
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The Nr Fairy
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Robinson's web page shows R44 max operating altitude as 14,000'.

The altitude record is held by a Lama at about 41'000' but I don't know where details of that are.

[This message has been edited by The Nr Fairy (edited 11 June 2001).]
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 17:48
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RW-1
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I do not know the height, perhaps Nr and i are thinking the same flight, but wasn't the highest flight the military flight to evac some climbers off of Everest a few years ago?

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Marc
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 18:40
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H-43
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I also don't know the actual altitude but I do know it was set with a Lama and I know it was higher than 32,000 feet because it was taken from the H-43 which held the record at 32,840 feet. For the record attempt they found the smallest pilot they could and stripped everything they could off (Including the starter after the engine was running). I have also heard but may be a rumor that they only put enough fuel in for the climb plus like 5 minutes and the pilot had to autorotate most of the way down. Sounds interesting to me!
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 18:45
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Mark Six
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H43-I heard the same thing- Lama at around 42,000 feet and autorotated most of the way down.
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 19:30
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widgeon
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Heard they removed the battery , but hey if you have no battery what use is the starter!. Wonder how long it took em to get up there.
I asked this question a while ago , the record for VROC is held by an Iranian 214ST , I would have thought that you would get best rate of climb in a more temperate climate than Iran is this not the case ?
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 22:32
  #7 (permalink)  
212man
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I think it gets pretty cold in Iran at times, depending on season and location (I've seen film of people skiing there).

I wonder if the Lama had an extended Collective range for the autorotation, or whether the normal movement allowed for the containing of the Nr at 42,000'?

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Another day in paradise
 
Old 11th Jun 2001, 22:39
  #8 (permalink)  
Ancient Pelican
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Understand the record was in a Lama, stripped and prepped for the record flight. The pilot was the lead Aerospatiale test pilot, they flight if I remember was done in Chile, the calculated the fuel to reach 40,000 feet and off he went, I think he actually reached 41,000 before be ran out of fuel, then he autoed for 40 minutes most of it IMC and with the inside of the bubble iced up since they had removed the heater. Eurocopter should have the details of the flight.
 
Old 12th Jun 2001, 00:56
  #9 (permalink)  
hover lover
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H-43,
I can remember reading somewhere that the pilot of the Lama "experienced a flameout" and so had to autorotate down. Whether 'twas caused by running out of petrol wasn't specified.
 
Old 12th Jun 2001, 02:01
  #10 (permalink)  
Lama Bear
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Talking

http://194.2.31.123/eurocopter/contenu/jf_z0038.html

Will take you to the Lama record facts from Eurocopter

http://www.fai.org/records/

Will take you to all the world records
 
Old 12th Jun 2001, 20:26
  #11 (permalink)  
ravenx
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That's impressive- not only that you can reach 41000 feet in a heli - but that you can train a lama to do it - how do they hold the cyclic with hooves ??

Still - if a dog can manage to find it's way into space .......
 
Old 12th Jun 2001, 21:20
  #12 (permalink)  
widgeon
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yes 212 man , peoples conceptions of countries are hard to shake sometimes. We have American tourists who come to Eastern Canada in July with Ski equipment and ask where the snow is !!. Back on subject , what are the rules as to what you can remove for a record attempt ?.
 
Old 12th Jun 2001, 23:52
  #13 (permalink)  
oldbeefer
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I reckon the sensible max altitude of an R44 is ground level!
 
Old 13th Jun 2001, 02:00
  #14 (permalink)  
212man
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I would think as a starting point, removing the pilot's brain would be useful; you wouldn't get me up at 41,000' in a helicopter!

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Another day in paradise
 
Old 13th Jun 2001, 03:18
  #15 (permalink)  
Deeko01
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Only a real helicopter could do it!!!

Go, G-LAMA !

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Better to be up there wishing you were down here than be down here wishing you were up there!
 
Old 13th Jun 2001, 20:15
  #16 (permalink)  
t'aint natural
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The R44 is limited to 10,000 agl because it's estimated the firewall is good for five minutes.
 
Old 13th Jun 2001, 20:49
  #17 (permalink)  
Nodak Garth
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Lama went to 40,820 Ft. The story is that it ran out of fuel,the other story the engine ran out of oxygen. One of the best helicopter I have ever flown.

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Old 13th Jun 2001, 20:55
  #18 (permalink)  
Nodak Garth
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Lama went to 40,820 Ft. The story was it ran out of fuel,the other story was it ran out of oxygen. One of the best helicopters I have ever flown.

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Old 13th Jun 2001, 22:28
  #19 (permalink)  
Nodak Garth
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Lama went to 40,820 Ft. the story is it ran out of fuel,story two was that it ran out of oxygen. One of the best helicopters I ever flew.

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Old 14th Jun 2001, 19:59
  #20 (permalink)  
Nodak Garth
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Lama went to 40,820 Ft. One story was it ran out of fuel the other was it ran out of oxygen. One of the best helicopters I ever flew.
 


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