Can You Top This or, Strange Helicopter Stories
Iconoclast
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Can You Top This or, Strange Helicopter Stories
In Iran the Army helicopter pilots were being trained using the US Army training syllabus. Normally a US Army pilot trainee would receive about 180 hours get his wings and be shipped out to an operational unit for transition and tactics training. In Iran the pilots received 200 hours dual training in AB-206s (OH-58). Upon completion of this phase he received 200 hours of supervised solo under the watchful eye of a Bell Helicopter pilot. Upon completion of this phase they were shipped to their respective units and got 200 more hours of supervised solo under the watchful eye of a US Army helicopter pilot.
To celebrate the completion of this training the pilots were brought back to the Isfahan training facility and they put on a flyby for the Shah. There were about twenty AB-206s in the flight. Suddenly, one of the helicopters dropped out of the formation and there was no evidence that the pilot was taking corrective action. He ended up crashing and exploded on impact. Meanwhile a second helicopter had broken formation and followed the first helicopter getting hit with flying debris, crashing and exploding and then a third helicopter followed the second down and he was hit by the flying debris from helicopter number two. In less than twenty seconds the Imperial Iranian Army Aviation lost three new AB-206s and six pilots.
[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]
To celebrate the completion of this training the pilots were brought back to the Isfahan training facility and they put on a flyby for the Shah. There were about twenty AB-206s in the flight. Suddenly, one of the helicopters dropped out of the formation and there was no evidence that the pilot was taking corrective action. He ended up crashing and exploded on impact. Meanwhile a second helicopter had broken formation and followed the first helicopter getting hit with flying debris, crashing and exploding and then a third helicopter followed the second down and he was hit by the flying debris from helicopter number two. In less than twenty seconds the Imperial Iranian Army Aviation lost three new AB-206s and six pilots.
[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]
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I vaguely recall something along those lines from my time in Iran....but then we can tell stories from all over. I was on a contract for Agusta to teach CH-47 flying to the Libyan Air Force in Italy. The four Libyan pilots had a total flight time approaching all of 2500 hours between them and had written off six helicopters in crashes between them. But I also heard the story of six CH-37's taxiing in to dispersal at some unknown Korean airfield....line astern formation....and the lead ship cut down the wind sock....and debris went into the #2 bird...and debris went into #3...and debris....until all six aircraft were scattered all over the airfield....in front of the general officer commanding. He is said to have muttered something along the lines of "I am glad I did not see that...so that I can preside at the courtsmartial."
Around 1990 an Australian Army pilot on a long flight landed his Kiowa in a remote area for a break. Made a little fire to heat the water for his coffee. The long grass caught alight and the fire soon spread like...wildfire, and engulfed the helicopter, destroying it. I can just imagine the phone call to the C.O. Arm Out The Window can verify this one-we both know the pilot.
Iconoclast
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Here are three weapons related stories:
1) This happened in Viet Nam. A fully loaded AH-1 was awaiting take off instructions. It had a full compliment of FFARs and a full ammo box. On this helicopter the ammunition was fired electrically and grounded squibs fired the rockets. A large Air Force Transport (C-141) or C-130 had just landed and was taxiing into the hardstand. His RADAR was on and as he turned into the taxiway the RADAR beam painted the AH-1. The electromagnetic field was so strong that it fired all of the FFARs, which flew down the runway and exploded off the base and at the same time, all of the electrically fired ammunition exploded taking both pilots and the helicopter out in an instant.
2) The Iranian Government purchased a large number of brand new AH-Js, which supposedly had been well proven in the service of the US Marines. Many maintenance related defects were uncovered and the first time they fired the cannon it showed that this element of the design was not fully proven. When the gun was fired the muzzle blast severely damaged the skin under the nose of the helicopter and it blew open all the inspection panels under the forward end of the fuselage. This problem was eventually solved by redesign of the muzzle break on the gun.
3) The Iranian Government contracted with the Germans to build and place into operation an ammunition factory. One of the ammo types made in this factory was used in the AH-1Js cannon. The major portion of the ammo used up to that time was drawn from US Army supplies and the Iranians wanted to use their own ammo. An AH-J was loaded with the locally made ammo and went out to the firing range. This was the first test of the ammo as the Germans never tested it in a fixed weapon and the Iranians never tested it in a helicopter mounted weapon. When the gun was fired several rounds went out of the muzzle as intended but then as each barrel turned and fired the round jammed in the barrel and then there were several more coming down the chute. The gun exploded and severely damaged the helicopter.
1) This happened in Viet Nam. A fully loaded AH-1 was awaiting take off instructions. It had a full compliment of FFARs and a full ammo box. On this helicopter the ammunition was fired electrically and grounded squibs fired the rockets. A large Air Force Transport (C-141) or C-130 had just landed and was taxiing into the hardstand. His RADAR was on and as he turned into the taxiway the RADAR beam painted the AH-1. The electromagnetic field was so strong that it fired all of the FFARs, which flew down the runway and exploded off the base and at the same time, all of the electrically fired ammunition exploded taking both pilots and the helicopter out in an instant.
2) The Iranian Government purchased a large number of brand new AH-Js, which supposedly had been well proven in the service of the US Marines. Many maintenance related defects were uncovered and the first time they fired the cannon it showed that this element of the design was not fully proven. When the gun was fired the muzzle blast severely damaged the skin under the nose of the helicopter and it blew open all the inspection panels under the forward end of the fuselage. This problem was eventually solved by redesign of the muzzle break on the gun.
3) The Iranian Government contracted with the Germans to build and place into operation an ammunition factory. One of the ammo types made in this factory was used in the AH-1Js cannon. The major portion of the ammo used up to that time was drawn from US Army supplies and the Iranians wanted to use their own ammo. An AH-J was loaded with the locally made ammo and went out to the firing range. This was the first test of the ammo as the Germans never tested it in a fixed weapon and the Iranians never tested it in a helicopter mounted weapon. When the gun was fired several rounds went out of the muzzle as intended but then as each barrel turned and fired the round jammed in the barrel and then there were several more coming down the chute. The gun exploded and severely damaged the helicopter.
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In late 85 early 86 the apaches were just being fielded to operational units.
One of the small problems that had gotten by all the testing regimes had to do with the cannon.
When firing the cannon in long bursts the circuit breaker for the night vision system would pop.
So there you are at night, a nice little hover hole, surrounded by trees and other bad things. You fire the cannon and after a short bit of time everything gets really dark.
Really really dark
Yikes !
One of the small problems that had gotten by all the testing regimes had to do with the cannon.
When firing the cannon in long bursts the circuit breaker for the night vision system would pop.
So there you are at night, a nice little hover hole, surrounded by trees and other bad things. You fire the cannon and after a short bit of time everything gets really dark.
Really really dark
Yikes !
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For the longest time...the CH-47 Chinook had an interesting couple of electrical faults...the gremlins were running wild and wreaking havoc with us. The lesser of the two was that at odd times....whenever you depressed the Force Trim release on the cyclic....and the cargo hook happened to be armed....oooops! Away went what ever happened to be on the cargo hook....minor items like a brand spanking new UH-1H with 24 hours on it and a state of the art C&C radio setup! Explain to the Division Commander about the skin damage to his new C&C bird....took a bit of talking to convince him it was all a big mistake!
The other really fun thing...was the Boeing-Vertol whiz kids approach to curing the problem of static electricity build up and shocking of ground troops hooking up underslung loads. In their infinite wisdom and after much experimentation at taxpayers expense...they installed what they called a static discharge system on the side of the aircraft. All automatic...no human interface needed....until you happened to walk along next to the aircraft....and ZAP! Struck by manmade lightning courtesy of Boeing! We quickly disconnected that fine piece of engineering.
Finally...end of the quarter...National Guard pilot needing his four hours for pay...absolute last chance to get it...Sunday afternoon late...almost dark...Hiller 12E (OH-23)...no one at the armory....rainy weather...low vis...low cloud...fog....hovering to get his time in...getting very bored....begins to roll a fuel drum around...stands the drum up...lays it down...gets bored with that...sees an old tire laying on the side of the hover patch...begins to play with that...gets bored...contemplates the flag pole...decides to drop the tire over the top of the flagpole and let the full time Guard staff figure out how that happened the next day when they run the flag up the pole......hooks the tire over the pole...and the skid...cannot get loose...runs out of fuel...chops down the flag pole...writes off the aircraft and a reasonably promising career as a Guard pilot!
The other really fun thing...was the Boeing-Vertol whiz kids approach to curing the problem of static electricity build up and shocking of ground troops hooking up underslung loads. In their infinite wisdom and after much experimentation at taxpayers expense...they installed what they called a static discharge system on the side of the aircraft. All automatic...no human interface needed....until you happened to walk along next to the aircraft....and ZAP! Struck by manmade lightning courtesy of Boeing! We quickly disconnected that fine piece of engineering.
Finally...end of the quarter...National Guard pilot needing his four hours for pay...absolute last chance to get it...Sunday afternoon late...almost dark...Hiller 12E (OH-23)...no one at the armory....rainy weather...low vis...low cloud...fog....hovering to get his time in...getting very bored....begins to roll a fuel drum around...stands the drum up...lays it down...gets bored with that...sees an old tire laying on the side of the hover patch...begins to play with that...gets bored...contemplates the flag pole...decides to drop the tire over the top of the flagpole and let the full time Guard staff figure out how that happened the next day when they run the flag up the pole......hooks the tire over the pole...and the skid...cannot get loose...runs out of fuel...chops down the flag pole...writes off the aircraft and a reasonably promising career as a Guard pilot!
Iconoclast
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Speaking about the Apache Chain Gun this supposedly happened. In a flight of two aircraft the gunners were taking shots at a common target. Gunner number 1 had all indications that his gun was pointed at the target (moving arrow) when in actuality his gun was pointing at aircraft number 2. He pressed the trigger and took out his wingman.
Here is a goof up on the part of Sikorsky.
On the Navy HSS-1 (CH-34 Variant) they had an Automatic Stabilization System (ASE). It had barometric hold as well as hydrostatic altitude hold. The Hydrostatic hold referenced seawater pressure in order to maintain a constant altitude over the water while dipping the SONAR. The barometric hold was used to maintain the helicopter in a constant position vertically while hovering or when flying. Under normal conditions the barometric hold would be referenced to an outside static port. For whatever reason the Sikorsky engineers had the static reference tied to the interior of the helicopter. One day an HSS-1 was tooling along at a constant altitude over the water when the Co Pilot opened his sliding window. This made a marked change in the cabin pressure and the helicopter got its wheels wet before the pilot could disengage his Bar Alt Hold. The static reference was changed soon thereafter.
[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]
Here is a goof up on the part of Sikorsky.
On the Navy HSS-1 (CH-34 Variant) they had an Automatic Stabilization System (ASE). It had barometric hold as well as hydrostatic altitude hold. The Hydrostatic hold referenced seawater pressure in order to maintain a constant altitude over the water while dipping the SONAR. The barometric hold was used to maintain the helicopter in a constant position vertically while hovering or when flying. Under normal conditions the barometric hold would be referenced to an outside static port. For whatever reason the Sikorsky engineers had the static reference tied to the interior of the helicopter. One day an HSS-1 was tooling along at a constant altitude over the water when the Co Pilot opened his sliding window. This made a marked change in the cabin pressure and the helicopter got its wheels wet before the pilot could disengage his Bar Alt Hold. The static reference was changed soon thereafter.
[ 10 September 2001: Message edited by: Lu Zuckerman ]
Mark Six, the old burning Kiowa story is a beauty all right - I bet the man in question wasn't laughing at the time though!
I'm not sure if this was after you left for greener pastures, but remember the infamous exercise at Shoalwater Bay when not one but 3 Hamel artillery pieces were totalled?
One was mysteriously pickled from under a Blackhawk for no apparent reason - the pilots both swore they hadn't been near the switches;
the second one was being hooked up for an NVG move when part of the ADE got hooked around the gun, and the pilot pickled it when it started to swing wildly from side to side;
and the poor old artillery lost one themselves when they were manhandling it around on a hill, it got away from them, rolled away and smashed itself up.
I don't think they were real cheap, either!
I'm not sure if this was after you left for greener pastures, but remember the infamous exercise at Shoalwater Bay when not one but 3 Hamel artillery pieces were totalled?
One was mysteriously pickled from under a Blackhawk for no apparent reason - the pilots both swore they hadn't been near the switches;
the second one was being hooked up for an NVG move when part of the ADE got hooked around the gun, and the pilot pickled it when it started to swing wildly from side to side;
and the poor old artillery lost one themselves when they were manhandling it around on a hill, it got away from them, rolled away and smashed itself up.
I don't think they were real cheap, either!
Iconoclast
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The following took place at Fort Eustis, Virginia:
1) A brand new H-34 was delivered to the operations hangar and it only had 16 hours on it. This helicopter was to be used to transition pilots from the H-19 and I believe the HUP (Mule).
The first pilot got into the H-34 and attempted to start it. In the process of the start he started to rotate the throttle grip to get more fuel into the induction system even though the helicopter is normally started on a priming charge. Built into the carburetor control system is a throttle-canceling switch that cuts out the starter if the throttle is advanced. In this case the switch was mis rigged and had no effect. The throttle was wide open and the engine started. The H-34 had a hydromechanical clutch that would allow the rotor system to be brought up to speed via a fluid coupling. Once the rotor was up to speed the throttle would be retarded and the clutch would go into a mechanical engagement via the free wheel unit. In this case the engine went up to about 2800 RPM and the internal forces in the clutch actuating mechanism were so strong that a critical part broke allowing the clutch to go into mechanical engagement. Within one half second the helicopter went from being brand new to being moved to the mechanics training school as a training device.
2) An AMOC (Aviation Maintenance Officers Course) was getting ready to run up an R 1820 engine that they had recently disassembled and rebuilt. In order to dynamically load the engine during run-up they installed a Test Club (Wooden prop with short blades and very high pitch). Engraved on the test club was a warning that it should only be used on R 1820 and R 1830 engines. What was not mentioned that the engine types were those used on fixed wing aircraft. Also noted was the fact that the props were rated for 2300 engine rpm. On an aircraft engine the nose section contains reduction gears and on a helicopter the nose section has no reduction gears.
When they started the engine they let it warm up and then opened the throttle to 2300 rpm. In order to get this speed on an aircraft prop the engine would be running at about 3000 rpm. This overstressed the wood prop and it exploded sending flying wood splinters all over the place. When the engine was unloaded it oversped and tore itself apart.
1) A brand new H-34 was delivered to the operations hangar and it only had 16 hours on it. This helicopter was to be used to transition pilots from the H-19 and I believe the HUP (Mule).
The first pilot got into the H-34 and attempted to start it. In the process of the start he started to rotate the throttle grip to get more fuel into the induction system even though the helicopter is normally started on a priming charge. Built into the carburetor control system is a throttle-canceling switch that cuts out the starter if the throttle is advanced. In this case the switch was mis rigged and had no effect. The throttle was wide open and the engine started. The H-34 had a hydromechanical clutch that would allow the rotor system to be brought up to speed via a fluid coupling. Once the rotor was up to speed the throttle would be retarded and the clutch would go into a mechanical engagement via the free wheel unit. In this case the engine went up to about 2800 RPM and the internal forces in the clutch actuating mechanism were so strong that a critical part broke allowing the clutch to go into mechanical engagement. Within one half second the helicopter went from being brand new to being moved to the mechanics training school as a training device.
2) An AMOC (Aviation Maintenance Officers Course) was getting ready to run up an R 1820 engine that they had recently disassembled and rebuilt. In order to dynamically load the engine during run-up they installed a Test Club (Wooden prop with short blades and very high pitch). Engraved on the test club was a warning that it should only be used on R 1820 and R 1830 engines. What was not mentioned that the engine types were those used on fixed wing aircraft. Also noted was the fact that the props were rated for 2300 engine rpm. On an aircraft engine the nose section contains reduction gears and on a helicopter the nose section has no reduction gears.
When they started the engine they let it warm up and then opened the throttle to 2300 rpm. In order to get this speed on an aircraft prop the engine would be running at about 3000 rpm. This overstressed the wood prop and it exploded sending flying wood splinters all over the place. When the engine was unloaded it oversped and tore itself apart.
Aviation and especially instructor anecdotes required
Hey all
I'm putting a booklet together for my students which is basically intended to be a collection of daft things that have happened to us by us and in front of us.
It's mostly a bit of fun but with an overview passing on daft or dangerous things that can happen in aviation.
Please post em here and I'll include as many as I can.
Cheers all
ET
I'm putting a booklet together for my students which is basically intended to be a collection of daft things that have happened to us by us and in front of us.
It's mostly a bit of fun but with an overview passing on daft or dangerous things that can happen in aviation.
Please post em here and I'll include as many as I can.
Cheers all
ET
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On the West Coast of NZ a few years ago a local operator had finished putting kayakers into a remote river, on his way home he sees a camper van stuck on the side of the road, pilot lands and helps German tourists get the camper back on the road, German tourist then backs his camper into running helicopter, one destroyed H300C.
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Mods,
I had a quick search but couldn't find what I was looking for which was another thread which would have gone well here. it was resonable recent and basically anecdotes or one liners relaying a message about flight discpline, like - "only wee downwind, everything else into wind"
or "daytime is for flying, nightime is for drinking"
etc.
good to see that old thread there tho
tet
I had a quick search but couldn't find what I was looking for which was another thread which would have gone well here. it was resonable recent and basically anecdotes or one liners relaying a message about flight discpline, like - "only wee downwind, everything else into wind"
or "daytime is for flying, nightime is for drinking"
etc.
good to see that old thread there tho
tet
Chief Bottle Washer
Mods,
I had a quick search but couldn't find what I was looking for which was another thread which would have gone well here. it was resonable recent and basically anecdotes or one liners relaying a message about flight discpline, like - "only wee downwind, everything else into wind"
or "daytime is for flying, nightime is for drinking"
etc.
good to see that old thread there tho
tet
I had a quick search but couldn't find what I was looking for which was another thread which would have gone well here. it was resonable recent and basically anecdotes or one liners relaying a message about flight discpline, like - "only wee downwind, everything else into wind"
or "daytime is for flying, nightime is for drinking"
etc.
good to see that old thread there tho
tet
