What was your scariest moment in a helicopter?
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VNE for a B205 is 120 kts if you follow the manual you are suppose to decrease speed 3 kts per 1000 of altitude which will give you a VNE of 57 KTS at 21,000 ft add temperature to this, it was in the Atacama desert in Northern Chile, and you will have a blade that will stop flying at one point and it is right there
You loose tail rotor authority at just about sea level so imagine up there, daily occurrence. If you notice in the video posted earlier I am going trough 18,000 and climbing when the master caution light comes on, I kind of put my attention on the problem and forgot to keep the speed up, you can see the airspeed indicator going down to zero and not long after that we are gone spinning just too bad the operator stop filming (got scared )you would have seen a nice recovery technique. Takes time and patience even if there urgency in the maneuver
As for the controls being sloppy is not even the word for it. You have to be sitting half a kilometer in front of the aircraft, meaning I want to go up over there so I pull cyclic and collective over here half a click before to get the response over there. It was a constant calculation.
The N1 limits are from the T53 -17 of course NOT a -13
In my first post I forgot to mention some other scary moments like "settling with power", Compressor stalls, Out of this world wind and mechanical problems.
JD
Thanks RVDT for posting the video.
You loose tail rotor authority at just about sea level so imagine up there, daily occurrence. If you notice in the video posted earlier I am going trough 18,000 and climbing when the master caution light comes on, I kind of put my attention on the problem and forgot to keep the speed up, you can see the airspeed indicator going down to zero and not long after that we are gone spinning just too bad the operator stop filming (got scared )you would have seen a nice recovery technique. Takes time and patience even if there urgency in the maneuver
As for the controls being sloppy is not even the word for it. You have to be sitting half a kilometer in front of the aircraft, meaning I want to go up over there so I pull cyclic and collective over here half a click before to get the response over there. It was a constant calculation.
The N1 limits are from the T53 -17 of course NOT a -13
In my first post I forgot to mention some other scary moments like "settling with power", Compressor stalls, Out of this world wind and mechanical problems.
JD
Thanks RVDT for posting the video.
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Fijdor - your South American adventure sounds interesting and I admire (I think) your courage in persevering in a task which continually exposed you to such risk. I am aware of the pressures some operators feel to 'get the job' and to 'complete the job' and perhaps this was a factor in your bird-towing exercise.
However, and without wishing to take away from the courage you displayed, I have to say (as someone with over 6,000 hrs on different versions of the UH1) that, on a non-critical mission such as a magnetic survey, I doubt that I would have done what you did.
In fact, it would seem that you were continually operating outside of the aircraft's normal performance range and I found myself asking why? There are helicopters which would have been better suited to this task, the Astar B3 and Bell 214B among them as well as less popular helos such as the Ka32 any of which would have provided better margins of safety.
Sincerely speaking I believe you are lucky to to be able to tell this tale but, in order that you can be around to tell the next one, you might pass up such jobs where you are operating with nil reserves of power or control on every flight!
HM
However, and without wishing to take away from the courage you displayed, I have to say (as someone with over 6,000 hrs on different versions of the UH1) that, on a non-critical mission such as a magnetic survey, I doubt that I would have done what you did.
In fact, it would seem that you were continually operating outside of the aircraft's normal performance range and I found myself asking why? There are helicopters which would have been better suited to this task, the Astar B3 and Bell 214B among them as well as less popular helos such as the Ka32 any of which would have provided better margins of safety.
Sincerely speaking I believe you are lucky to to be able to tell this tale but, in order that you can be around to tell the next one, you might pass up such jobs where you are operating with nil reserves of power or control on every flight!
HM
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Hell Man I have read your comment and I understand what you are saying. It would be nice to sit somewhere in front of a coffee and talk about this adventure but here, is not the place.
One thing I will say though, I was never pressured to do this job or pressured to keep going, never.
There was a misunderstanding at the beginning in between the Company and the customer as far as the altitude of the job was concerned, the numbers written on the maps, 5,500, 6,000's and the 6,500's thousands on the grid maps were believed to be feet, once I got there and studied the maps, somethings weren't right and I superposed them to a aviation map to confirm the location and that is when I find out those were actually meters not feet. There was a lot of talking happening after that let me tell you. Decision to give it a try was mine.
As for the aircraft well, I simply used what the company I was working for, had available over there at the time. The 205 was OK it would have been easier with dual hydraulics and 212 blades though.
I could talk about this job for days, there is a lot more to this than what I wrote, it went for 14/15 weeks if I recall properly.
Simondlh The Master caution light came on to indicate a boots pump failure, can't remember which one it was, could have been the left one (the usual one) and the procedure for that is to reduce altitude due to possible fuel starvation, The airspeed went to zero because I forgot to do the basic thing in Aviation, which is "fly the aircraft" my mind was on the problem, I was thinking about simply quiting the line and heading straight back to staging or keep going and Finnish the line, I was heading in that general direction anyway but in both situations I could not reduce the altitude, I still had to climb to 20,000 ft PA to get back home before I could start going down to our staging. After recovering from the LTE I simply said to the operator "fu.. it" lets go home I need a coffee anyway. Did that line next time we came back.
JD
One thing I will say though, I was never pressured to do this job or pressured to keep going, never.
There was a misunderstanding at the beginning in between the Company and the customer as far as the altitude of the job was concerned, the numbers written on the maps, 5,500, 6,000's and the 6,500's thousands on the grid maps were believed to be feet, once I got there and studied the maps, somethings weren't right and I superposed them to a aviation map to confirm the location and that is when I find out those were actually meters not feet. There was a lot of talking happening after that let me tell you. Decision to give it a try was mine.
As for the aircraft well, I simply used what the company I was working for, had available over there at the time. The 205 was OK it would have been easier with dual hydraulics and 212 blades though.
I could talk about this job for days, there is a lot more to this than what I wrote, it went for 14/15 weeks if I recall properly.
Simondlh The Master caution light came on to indicate a boots pump failure, can't remember which one it was, could have been the left one (the usual one) and the procedure for that is to reduce altitude due to possible fuel starvation, The airspeed went to zero because I forgot to do the basic thing in Aviation, which is "fly the aircraft" my mind was on the problem, I was thinking about simply quiting the line and heading straight back to staging or keep going and Finnish the line, I was heading in that general direction anyway but in both situations I could not reduce the altitude, I still had to climb to 20,000 ft PA to get back home before I could start going down to our staging. After recovering from the LTE I simply said to the operator "fu.. it" lets go home I need a coffee anyway. Did that line next time we came back.
JD
Last edited by fijdor; 28th Oct 2010 at 16:50.
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Uncle Ian - your experience
Hi Ian,
I'm working with a production company called Raw TV, who I believe were in touch with you a while back. The number we have for you is out of use, but we'd really like to get in touch once again about the programme they discussed with you.
It would be great if you were interested in having another chat - you can email me [email protected] or I'll check this forum again soon.
Best wishes,
Becky
I'm working with a production company called Raw TV, who I believe were in touch with you a while back. The number we have for you is out of use, but we'd really like to get in touch once again about the programme they discussed with you.
It would be great if you were interested in having another chat - you can email me [email protected] or I'll check this forum again soon.
Best wishes,
Becky
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Scariest moment
My most scary moment happened not whilst inside a helicopter but whilst being dangled on a winch cable from a big yellow Sea King in 1980. 
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It was after a survival exerciuse when doing my BFT at Linton and being made to survive on some barren piece of Pennine Moor, near Malham Tarn for 24 hours. The scary part was being on the cable maybe 20 feet off the ground as the pilot(s) transitioned into forward flight, leaving me skimming the ground flying nap-of-the-earth whilst following a fire break between two conifer plantations! As the cable came in the helo flew lower and lower so that the fuselage was in the gap between the trees and the rotor disk was perhaps 10 feet clear of the pine tops.
It felt like we were flying at 150 kts but the max was probably no more than 60 and the reeling-in part felt like it took a very long time but can't have been more than 60 seconds even though the maximum cable let out was probably no more than 100-120 ft.
One moment there was total elation at being found and "rescued". Popping of the smoke part of a day/night flare etc. and then the complete helpless fear thinking that one was about to be wiped out by a tree trunk. The worst part was not being control either of the helo or of the winch and being totally helpless.
.It was after a survival exerciuse when doing my BFT at Linton and being made to survive on some barren piece of Pennine Moor, near Malham Tarn for 24 hours. The scary part was being on the cable maybe 20 feet off the ground as the pilot(s) transitioned into forward flight, leaving me skimming the ground flying nap-of-the-earth whilst following a fire break between two conifer plantations! As the cable came in the helo flew lower and lower so that the fuselage was in the gap between the trees and the rotor disk was perhaps 10 feet clear of the pine tops.
It felt like we were flying at 150 kts but the max was probably no more than 60 and the reeling-in part felt like it took a very long time but can't have been more than 60 seconds even though the maximum cable let out was probably no more than 100-120 ft.
One moment there was total elation at being found and "rescued". Popping of the smoke part of a day/night flare etc. and then the complete helpless fear thinking that one was about to be wiped out by a tree trunk. The worst part was not being control either of the helo or of the winch and being totally helpless.
