Bell 206: JetRanger and LongRanger
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B206 Lights Question
Hi,
I'm developing a sim of the B206 BIII, and want to make sure that I have the exterior lights right.
Tell me if this is correct, as I have no access to the real helicopter to check it out.
1 Anti-Collision Beacon (red) located on the top of the vertical stab. switch - overhead
3 Navigation/Position lights, red (port) and green (starboard) on the end of the horizontal stab, and a steady white on the end of the tail boom.
switch - overhead
1 White strobe light on top of the engine compartment. switch - where?
1 Landing light - switch on collective
Where is the switch for the white strobe, or is this activated by the anti-collision or position light switch.
Thanks
Patrick
I'm developing a sim of the B206 BIII, and want to make sure that I have the exterior lights right.
Tell me if this is correct, as I have no access to the real helicopter to check it out.
1 Anti-Collision Beacon (red) located on the top of the vertical stab. switch - overhead
3 Navigation/Position lights, red (port) and green (starboard) on the end of the horizontal stab, and a steady white on the end of the tail boom.
switch - overhead
1 White strobe light on top of the engine compartment. switch - where?
1 Landing light - switch on collective
Where is the switch for the white strobe, or is this activated by the anti-collision or position light switch.
Thanks
Patrick
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Im my experience the "strobe" marked "HISL" High- intensity- strobe- light is located as a seperate switch on the overhead panel, thus can be switched off when on short finals but keeping the nav lights on, i`ve looked to see if i had an old photo but they dont show the overhead, apart from that all of the above appear correct to me
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We had our switch on the overhead panel - bloody great silver thing. Then we dropped the HISL and had to pick up all those candles..... 
Phil
Phil
1 Landing light - switch on collective
Im not familiar with the white strobe light you mention? Could be local requirement!
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Ok, in this photo (below), I do see the strobe switch where I had previously seen a 'heater' switch with off(center) heat (aft), and vent(fwd).
Now in this pic of the strobe switch we have:
strobe (aft) - I assume turns on the strobe
off (center) - Turns it off
lights (fwd) - Wonder what this does?
Also, is that black spot next to it marked "HTR" and "START" a none existent switch or is it a light?
Here's the photo of an overhead: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrick.waugh/PanelPhotos
Thanks for the bit on the landing lights. Any idea which one turns on first? I always thought the light was behind a windscreen right under the battery compartment. Perhaps you had one equiped with lights on the skids or something.
Thanks for all the help guys.
This is my progress so far: http://home.comcast.net/~pwaugh/video/B206.Start.zip
Patrick
Now in this pic of the strobe switch we have:
strobe (aft) - I assume turns on the strobe
off (center) - Turns it off
lights (fwd) - Wonder what this does?
Also, is that black spot next to it marked "HTR" and "START" a none existent switch or is it a light?
Here's the photo of an overhead: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrick.waugh/PanelPhotos
Thanks for the bit on the landing lights. Any idea which one turns on first? I always thought the light was behind a windscreen right under the battery compartment. Perhaps you had one equiped with lights on the skids or something.
Thanks for all the help guys.
This is my progress so far: http://home.comcast.net/~pwaugh/video/B206.Start.zip
Patrick
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Also, is that black spot next to it marked "HTR" and "START" a none existent switch or is it a light?
About the strobe light switch. I think that the sticker that id's the switch has been cut in half to make it fit. The 'OFF' thats on the pannel probabily related to the switch that was previously there (the heater as you say Vent|Off|Aft). For the new switch thats there or the strobes, OFF would be forward and ON would be aft.
Hope thats clear
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Originally Posted by Practice Auto 3,2,1
I think thats just a 'Blank' a plastic plug fitted when a switch or a CB is removed. More can be seen on the CB pannel at the forward end of the photo
About the strobe light switch. I think that the sticker that id's the switch has been cut in half to make it fit. The 'OFF' thats on the pannel probabily related to the switch that was previously there (the heater as you say Vent|Off|Aft). For the new switch thats there or the strobes, OFF would be forward and ON would be aft.
Hope thats clear
About the strobe light switch. I think that the sticker that id's the switch has been cut in half to make it fit. The 'OFF' thats on the pannel probabily related to the switch that was previously there (the heater as you say Vent|Off|Aft). For the new switch thats there or the strobes, OFF would be forward and ON would be aft.
Hope thats clear
I believe that they probably intend on ON being forward as the rest of the switches are on the panel.
So, this clears up where I can put the strobe switch, and since I don't really need to sim a heater, I guess I can do the same.
Thanks.
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Ah, leave it to an old fart to answer the questions...
Patrick, one of the endearing things about aviation is that there is precious little standardization. It can be quite confusing.
Bell 206's come with one red anti-collision light on top of the vertical fin. Over the years, many operators replaced the dim red lens with a more modern (and brighter) clear lens from Whelen, but one day in the 1990's the FAA had a cow and made us change them all back to red since that is what the ship was originally certified with. Lots of common sense at work there, right.
The switch for the anti-collision/strobe and position lights are just adjacent to the instrument light rheostate on the overhead. Many, many 206's have those two switches and only those two.
However, some operators added additional strobe lights that were not required by the FAA. These lights were either in the form of "wingtip" strobes on the end of the horizontal stab, or a single white strobe on the engine or oil cooler cowlings, or perhaps in the area under the baggage compartment. These additional strobes required a separate switch, which was usually put...somewhere up there on the overhead...most often in a blank or unused hole. (Often the same situation when avionics master switches were added.)
But again, there is no rhyme or reason for the placement of all switches in most helicopters. The conscientious pilot will suss out their locations and uses prior to takeoff on the first flight in the new machine, or shortly afterward in any case.
As for the heater...in the bad old days, Jetbangers used to come with a device known as The Dreaded Janitrol Heater. This was a combustion heater designed to run on avgas. It was a cantakerous beasty, and did not like running on pure jet fuel. Ergo, we often mixed up to 1/3 avgas per tankful. The heater switch was a three-position deal. Aft was "Vent", center was "Off", and forward was "Run" (or "On", I forget). There was a little pushbutton right next to the switch that fired a spark plug to ignite the fuel and get the thing producing heat. This spark plug would routinely foul (jet fuel being extremely oily, you know).
The procedure was that as you made your descent for landing and while you still had good airflow through the heater, you would throw the switch to the "Vent" position to allow it to cool properly. If you forgot, and left the heater on all the way down to landing and then switched to "Vent", the igniter plug would invariably foul and you'd never get the heater lit again that day. The mechys loved cleaning Janitrol plugs that dumbass pilots allowed to get fouled. I seem to recall that running the temperature control down to "Min" helped a bit too, but who even thinks about that when you're freezing your tootsies off? (No heater ever made puts enough hot air up into the footwell of a 206, thank you very much. Bell might as well have mounted those pedals out in the airstream.)
It is suspected that a Janitrol heater was the source of the fire that brought down the DC-3 that was carrying 1950/60's popstar Ricky Nelson and his band. How that heater ever got certified for use in aircraft, I'll never know.
Patrick, one of the endearing things about aviation is that there is precious little standardization. It can be quite confusing.
Bell 206's come with one red anti-collision light on top of the vertical fin. Over the years, many operators replaced the dim red lens with a more modern (and brighter) clear lens from Whelen, but one day in the 1990's the FAA had a cow and made us change them all back to red since that is what the ship was originally certified with. Lots of common sense at work there, right.
The switch for the anti-collision/strobe and position lights are just adjacent to the instrument light rheostate on the overhead. Many, many 206's have those two switches and only those two.
However, some operators added additional strobe lights that were not required by the FAA. These lights were either in the form of "wingtip" strobes on the end of the horizontal stab, or a single white strobe on the engine or oil cooler cowlings, or perhaps in the area under the baggage compartment. These additional strobes required a separate switch, which was usually put...somewhere up there on the overhead...most often in a blank or unused hole. (Often the same situation when avionics master switches were added.)
But again, there is no rhyme or reason for the placement of all switches in most helicopters. The conscientious pilot will suss out their locations and uses prior to takeoff on the first flight in the new machine, or shortly afterward in any case.
As for the heater...in the bad old days, Jetbangers used to come with a device known as The Dreaded Janitrol Heater. This was a combustion heater designed to run on avgas. It was a cantakerous beasty, and did not like running on pure jet fuel. Ergo, we often mixed up to 1/3 avgas per tankful. The heater switch was a three-position deal. Aft was "Vent", center was "Off", and forward was "Run" (or "On", I forget). There was a little pushbutton right next to the switch that fired a spark plug to ignite the fuel and get the thing producing heat. This spark plug would routinely foul (jet fuel being extremely oily, you know).
The procedure was that as you made your descent for landing and while you still had good airflow through the heater, you would throw the switch to the "Vent" position to allow it to cool properly. If you forgot, and left the heater on all the way down to landing and then switched to "Vent", the igniter plug would invariably foul and you'd never get the heater lit again that day. The mechys loved cleaning Janitrol plugs that dumbass pilots allowed to get fouled. I seem to recall that running the temperature control down to "Min" helped a bit too, but who even thinks about that when you're freezing your tootsies off? (No heater ever made puts enough hot air up into the footwell of a 206, thank you very much. Bell might as well have mounted those pedals out in the airstream.)
It is suspected that a Janitrol heater was the source of the fire that brought down the DC-3 that was carrying 1950/60's popstar Ricky Nelson and his band. How that heater ever got certified for use in aircraft, I'll never know.
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Yet another B206 switch question =)
Ok, hope I'm not annoying. 
On the B206 Overhead there is a switch labeled:
Dir Gyro & Att Ind
And I just want to confirm what this does. My guess is that it applies power to the gyros in those instruments, and those gyros are electric vs. vacuum driven.
Patrick
On the B206 Overhead there is a switch labeled:
Dir Gyro & Att Ind
And I just want to confirm what this does. My guess is that it applies power to the gyros in those instruments, and those gyros are electric vs. vacuum driven.
Patrick
Patrick. I see one problem with your panel!
It looks too clean and neat.. I have never seen it like that in real JetRangers ; )
But I guess it´s difficult to imitate that worn look in computer simualtions hehe..
It looks too clean and neat.. I have never seen it like that in real JetRangers ; )
But I guess it´s difficult to imitate that worn look in computer simualtions hehe..
Jet ranger b111 C of G question
I dont have a flight manual and I need to know the following CofG problem.
4 pax, 60gallons, front left door off, both rear doors off.
weights are Front Pilot/pax 160kg
Rear pax 200kg
No baggage
empty weight of b206 817kg.
Is this machine in balance? I cant remember the doors off stuff of the top of my head and dont have access to a manual due to bush location. No I am not operating the machine its a question a mate asked me for a practise exam.
Thanks for any replies
4 pax, 60gallons, front left door off, both rear doors off.
weights are Front Pilot/pax 160kg
Rear pax 200kg
No baggage
empty weight of b206 817kg.
Is this machine in balance? I cant remember the doors off stuff of the top of my head and dont have access to a manual due to bush location. No I am not operating the machine its a question a mate asked me for a practise exam.
Thanks for any replies
Agree with John, but if that machine as described isn't within C of G when you do the numbers, then I'll root my boot on a public monument. Sing out if I'm wrong and you want me to post the pictures...
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Long CG is 108.48, assuming a start of 116 ins, which is about average (left front door off makes a slight difference as I only calculated the weight, not the arm)
Zero Fuel Wt is 2568.2, arm 107.45
Gross wt is 2962
There's a spreadsheet that calculates doors off etc at www.electrocution.com/aviation
Phil
Zero Fuel Wt is 2568.2, arm 107.45
Gross wt is 2962
There's a spreadsheet that calculates doors off etc at www.electrocution.com/aviation
Phil
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B206 torque fluctuation
Hi.
I am new on the 206, and I have noticed something on one of our machines.
Sometimes the torquemeter fluctuates between 90-92ish up to 100 in the hover, and with every fluctuation the machines yaws a little. The N1 is stable, whilst N2?NR fluctuates at the same rate, but only about 2% or so.
Informed maintenace about it, and they had took it in for inspection, I flew it some time later and the same thing happened again.
Any ideas what this is?
I am new on the 206, and I have noticed something on one of our machines.
Sometimes the torquemeter fluctuates between 90-92ish up to 100 in the hover, and with every fluctuation the machines yaws a little. The N1 is stable, whilst N2?NR fluctuates at the same rate, but only about 2% or so.
Informed maintenace about it, and they had took it in for inspection, I flew it some time later and the same thing happened again.
Any ideas what this is?
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TQ fluctuations
Well, the torquemeter is just an oil pressure guage and can definately fluctuate. I once flew a Jetranger that had a very fluctuating torque, and that machine had two tubes in the hot section lubrication mixed up... In that case, both the torque and the oil pressure went wild. We discovered it during first test hover after service, so there was no real danger.
Anyway, anything that makes the Nr wobble just has to be the governor (I'm not qualified to answer your question, but that's what it sounds like to me). What happens if you beep it up and down? Does it follow nicely? Can you beep it over 100% in a 3 ft hover?
If it has a CECO fuel system, which I beleive is air driven, it could be more prone to fluctuations, and will have tendencies to over RPM when lowering the collective, for instance when you make a close to autorotation approach. I have found the Bendix fuel system to be more stable.
Anyway, anything that makes the Nr wobble just has to be the governor (I'm not qualified to answer your question, but that's what it sounds like to me). What happens if you beep it up and down? Does it follow nicely? Can you beep it over 100% in a 3 ft hover?
If it has a CECO fuel system, which I beleive is air driven, it could be more prone to fluctuations, and will have tendencies to over RPM when lowering the collective, for instance when you make a close to autorotation approach. I have found the Bendix fuel system to be more stable.
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Thanks for the answer, but I fear I didn't explain the indications well enough.
The torque will fluctuate, but in a very rythmic way, from about 92ish up to 100 and down again, the frequency not changing for the duration. And every time it increases there is an audible change in the noise from engine/gearbox and associated yaw..so it is not just the gauge. The frequency is about 2 per second. While this is going on the N1 is stable, but N2/NR fluctuates about 2% with the torque..same frequency. Then after a while it settles down again and both indications are back to normal and steady (as steady as they get).
Also happened once in a climb, 80% TQ and 60mph, steady climb. Torque was 80-90, same frequency and sound, yaw being less because of the tail being effective, but still noticable.
Total duration is around 10sec+ before it goes away.
Ken
The torque will fluctuate, but in a very rythmic way, from about 92ish up to 100 and down again, the frequency not changing for the duration. And every time it increases there is an audible change in the noise from engine/gearbox and associated yaw..so it is not just the gauge. The frequency is about 2 per second. While this is going on the N1 is stable, but N2/NR fluctuates about 2% with the torque..same frequency. Then after a while it settles down again and both indications are back to normal and steady (as steady as they get).
Also happened once in a climb, 80% TQ and 60mph, steady climb. Torque was 80-90, same frequency and sound, yaw being less because of the tail being effective, but still noticable.
Total duration is around 10sec+ before it goes away.
Ken
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I would say its a problem with the govenor. if its hunting or ocilating it will cause very similar problems as you have said. just my thoughts though its been two or three years since i have turned a spanner on one.
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You can get a variation in the torque gauge indication if the oil system to the gauge has air in it. The remedy is simply to get the system bled.
However, it sounds like what you describe is a real variation in torque which is different and certainly worthy of investigation. With a change in torque indication coincident with a change in Nr/N2, the most likely thing is a real change in torque - not just a torque indicaton.
What have your engineers said? - You should get them involved pdq IMHO
However, it sounds like what you describe is a real variation in torque which is different and certainly worthy of investigation. With a change in torque indication coincident with a change in Nr/N2, the most likely thing is a real change in torque - not just a torque indicaton.
What have your engineers said? - You should get them involved pdq IMHO