Farewell to the Harley
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Farewell to the Harley
Saw on TV the Australian Army had their last official flight of the UH-1H. A sad day indeed. I had many a fun day flying those aircraft. We used to say that the Hueys would still be flying when the last Black Hawk was taken to the bone yard. With the Black Hawk's replacement starting to appear (MRH-90), it very nearly came true.
I wish I could get my hands on one of those to keep as a warbird.
I wish I could get my hands on one of those to keep as a warbird.
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Wouldnt be surprised if at some point they came back. Had a small giggle to myself when reading a rotor magazine article (rotor and wing I think) where they were talking about an recent upgrade to some Bell 212s. They made them more useful and increased the payload/range by removing the two engines and replacing them with a single powerplant of the T53 line.
2007 and we have invented the Huey.
TW
2007 and we have invented the Huey.
TW
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It's called the Eagle 'S':
http://www.eaglecopters.com/mainframe.htm
http://www.eaglecopters.com/mainframe.htm
Please do not put post 1960 Bell Helicopters and the word 'Invent' in the same sentence. Bell is very good at recycling old kit and stuffing it up eg: AH-1Z (still waiting) UH1Y (still waiting), ARH (still waiting) etc etc. Their lack of inventiveness continues to amaze me.
Sad to see a pretty decent piece of Australian Military History move on
, though about time. Our soldiers need more and better helicopters yesterday!
Sad to see a pretty decent piece of Australian Military History move on
, though about time. Our soldiers need more and better helicopters yesterday!
"Sad to see a pretty decent piece of Australian Military History move on,though about time. Our soldiers need more and better hlicopters yesterday!"
Yeah right! but they go and choose the Tiger and NH 90 both will bite us in the arse!!
Eurocrap will not work in the tropics and central oz, opposite side of world to support, no eng power, no payload , no support! I pity the poor grunts relying on these helos for support and the poor aircrew and tradies trying to keep them in the air!
Give me AH64-D's,UH60-M's and CH47-D's any day if i'm in the S..t......I want to live!
Yeah right! but they go and choose the Tiger and NH 90 both will bite us in the arse!!
Eurocrap will not work in the tropics and central oz, opposite side of world to support, no eng power, no payload , no support! I pity the poor grunts relying on these helos for support and the poor aircrew and tradies trying to keep them in the air!
Give me AH64-D's,UH60-M's and CH47-D's any day if i'm in the S..t......I want to live!
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BH9, mate, if you've got a point, come right out and say it. The EADS product will do the job. I'm not sure what you are expecting powerwise, as single engine OEI to 10k at AUW is not achievable on any aircraft, let alone a helo.
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Vale Huey
It's a shame to see the lovely old girl go, she's still a right looker even at 40 plus!
As for you, BH9, the other day I heard someone sum up the 'debate' between the MRH 90 and the Blackhawk by saying "It couldn't be worse!" and you know what? he's probably right.
After 35 years of operating Hueys, the ADF managed nearly 100% mission success rates on ops, and regularly managed better than 80% on-line at home. After nigh on 20 years of experience operating the bloody things, Blackhawk mission completion rates are still in the toilet, and show no signs of improving. The Blackhawk is a nice aircraft, but it has always been difficult to maintain, and it is not that great hot and high. In any case it lifts less than an MRH 90 once you put CMDS and ballistic protection in, and has half the range.
So save your chauvinistic bias for a subject where it might actually be entertaining, like whether Rugby Union is better than rugby league.
Goodbye Huey, we'll miss you
As for you, BH9, the other day I heard someone sum up the 'debate' between the MRH 90 and the Blackhawk by saying "It couldn't be worse!" and you know what? he's probably right.
After 35 years of operating Hueys, the ADF managed nearly 100% mission success rates on ops, and regularly managed better than 80% on-line at home. After nigh on 20 years of experience operating the bloody things, Blackhawk mission completion rates are still in the toilet, and show no signs of improving. The Blackhawk is a nice aircraft, but it has always been difficult to maintain, and it is not that great hot and high. In any case it lifts less than an MRH 90 once you put CMDS and ballistic protection in, and has half the range.
So save your chauvinistic bias for a subject where it might actually be entertaining, like whether Rugby Union is better than rugby league.
Goodbye Huey, we'll miss you
Yep I loved the Huey too, did about 6 years on them worked on the last B models at 3AD and H 's at 9 Sqn and 5 Avn, great machine and super reliable but my favorite is the Blackhawk , I never had a Blackhawk go tits up on me out bush in 5 years of bush ops and yes Jessie I to recovered more Blackhawks in Hueys than the other way around (not my Blackhawks other crews!!) and the problems with the so called maintenance problem in the Blackhawk was not the A/C fault, when the Helo's went from RAAF to Army the system let them down not the RAAF and not the Army, no spares ordered, experiance levels of tradies going up and down like a yoyo in the Sqn's and high flying rate, at one stage at 5 Avn we had 8 Blackhawks out of 30 due 500 hrlys and no people or spares to do them, the press come out and say they have a servicability problem , yep when the system f.....up to that extent nothing would have flown!
When the Blackhawk was chosen it was between the Blackhawk and the AS332 Super Puma , thank goodness we chose the Blackhawk i've worked on Super Pumas for 8 years and the Blackhawk is a class above , it is a full generation ahead of the S,puma in design and systems.
And as Mr Torquer said do I have a point . Yes I don't like Eurocrap, good helos but sh.t support, and that is what will bite us on the ass the NH90 is a very capable helo but with almost all other NH90's the other side of the world we will be the poor cousins to other operators, and the Tiger is worse no hot and high performance and all the work the Aust Army has done to intergrate US weapons systems in them, the french are laughing all the way to the bank!
When the Chinook was reintroduced to Australian service they were delivered in US paint scheme not the Australian 3 colour scheme and operated under the US Army maintenance scheme not the AAP system for one reason ...ease of support and interoperability with US forces, (the force we have worked closest to for the last 40+ years) then we go and throw that plan away and choose the NH90 and Tiger , if the ADF chose the UH60-M, and AH64-D and the Navy went with more Seahawks and MH60-S's the ADF would have operated 6 differant airframes , AH64,UH60,MH60,S70-B2,SH2G(A) and CH47 and 2 engines T-700's and T55's all US equip with interoperability with regional forces (US,Singapore,Korea ,Japan etc to name a few), but no!! we get NH90's, Tigers with the Blackhawks,Seahawks,Seasprites and Chinooks, 6 compleatly differant airframes and 4 engines, T-700, T-55,RTM322 and TM MTR390, what will the cost be over 20 add years to maintain such a mixed fleet.
That gentlemen is my beef , but to all of us who worked or flew the Huey have a beer and remember the good times, I'm lucky I'm on S-92's (yes a fat Blackhawk!!)and if I see a Super Puma again its too soon!! (oops spoke to soon i'm on Puma ****boxes again next month!) ;-)
When the Blackhawk was chosen it was between the Blackhawk and the AS332 Super Puma , thank goodness we chose the Blackhawk i've worked on Super Pumas for 8 years and the Blackhawk is a class above , it is a full generation ahead of the S,puma in design and systems.
And as Mr Torquer said do I have a point . Yes I don't like Eurocrap, good helos but sh.t support, and that is what will bite us on the ass the NH90 is a very capable helo but with almost all other NH90's the other side of the world we will be the poor cousins to other operators, and the Tiger is worse no hot and high performance and all the work the Aust Army has done to intergrate US weapons systems in them, the french are laughing all the way to the bank!
When the Chinook was reintroduced to Australian service they were delivered in US paint scheme not the Australian 3 colour scheme and operated under the US Army maintenance scheme not the AAP system for one reason ...ease of support and interoperability with US forces, (the force we have worked closest to for the last 40+ years) then we go and throw that plan away and choose the NH90 and Tiger , if the ADF chose the UH60-M, and AH64-D and the Navy went with more Seahawks and MH60-S's the ADF would have operated 6 differant airframes , AH64,UH60,MH60,S70-B2,SH2G(A) and CH47 and 2 engines T-700's and T55's all US equip with interoperability with regional forces (US,Singapore,Korea ,Japan etc to name a few), but no!! we get NH90's, Tigers with the Blackhawks,Seahawks,Seasprites and Chinooks, 6 compleatly differant airframes and 4 engines, T-700, T-55,RTM322 and TM MTR390, what will the cost be over 20 add years to maintain such a mixed fleet.
That gentlemen is my beef , but to all of us who worked or flew the Huey have a beer and remember the good times, I'm lucky I'm on S-92's (yes a fat Blackhawk!!)and if I see a Super Puma again its too soon!! (oops spoke to soon i'm on Puma ****boxes again next month!) ;-)
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replacing them with a single powerplant of the T53 line.
Blackhawk 9
Don't knock the Puma/Super Puma so much. Ive been flying them both military and civil since 1971. A few breaks, ie. the S76, but generally speaking thirty years experience and about 12,000 hrs. I have never had a moment of concern with the aircraft. A few, very few problems but not to worry about. I admit other people have had a bag of nails on their lap so maybe I have been lucky. It's an old airframe going back to 1966, but there are older, Chinook?, and nobody complains about them. When you screw it up, and I have many times, the old Puma will always pull you out of the crap..
Don't knock the Puma/Super Puma so much. Ive been flying them both military and civil since 1971. A few breaks, ie. the S76, but generally speaking thirty years experience and about 12,000 hrs. I have never had a moment of concern with the aircraft. A few, very few problems but not to worry about. I admit other people have had a bag of nails on their lap so maybe I have been lucky. It's an old airframe going back to 1966, but there are older, Chinook?, and nobody complains about them. When you screw it up, and I have many times, the old Puma will always pull you out of the crap..
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Well something had to go to make room for another ADF f**kup, Tiger,Boeing wedgetail, Seasprite and now the unknown MRH90.......All that excess money is just looking for another monkey to spend it while in places like Brisbane the authorities get to tell you wether or not you may flush your toilet. 
Go Aussie go!
Go Aussie go!
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Arm out the window, funny you should say that! When we retired our UH-1B's in the Navy, they were bought back in again because we didn't at the time have a suitable training aircraft for aircrew training.
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heliwhore,
As with your one and only other post, I have deleted this as a personal attack on another Rotorhead.
If your only contribution to PPRuNe is simply to have a go at another member, forget it
Bye bye,
Senior Pilot
Rotorheads Moderator
As with your one and only other post, I have deleted this as a personal attack on another Rotorhead.
If your only contribution to PPRuNe is simply to have a go at another member, forget it
Bye bye,
Senior Pilot
Rotorheads Moderator
Last edited by Senior Pilot; 14th Oct 2007 at 02:28. Reason: Personal abuse
A bigger problem than the equipment itself, IMHO, is the logistics tail. Aircraft availabilty seems to be a big problem, regardless of which type it acctually is. I don't pretend to know why but if it is anything like other peices of equip operated by the ADF its probally a combination of spares shortages and other priorities competeing with maintenence/training-like inter unit rugby comps
Chief Bottle Washer
The NH-90 has now been accepted into service by the Australian Army, details here.
18 December 2007
First Multi-Role helicopters accepted into service
The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) accepted the first two MRH 90 Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) at the Australian Aerospace facility in Brisbane today.
Under Project AIR 9000, 46 MRH 90s are being procured to the Navy’s Sea King and Army’s Black Hawk fleets as well as additional air-mobile support.
The on-schedule in-service date milestone is a major achievement in the project with the ceremony attended by senior parliamentary, Defence and industry representatives from Australia, France and Germany.
Head of Helicopter Systems Division, Major General Tony Fraser said the acceptance of the first two MRH 90 helicopters was a critical milestone in the project.
"It will provide our sailors and soldiers with a new troop lift helicopter designed for the demands of modern combat operations over land and from ships at sea," he said.
"It is a tangible result of the extensive work done by many contractors and project personnel in a tight timeframe."
The MRH 90 is the first true fly-by-wire helicopter in the world and is equipped with a Forward Looking Infra Red system for flight in low light and has the same pilot helmet-mounted sight and display as used in the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter. It has a larger cabin than the current troop lift aircraft.
A period of test and evaluation, training and aircraft development will now be conducted, leading to initial operational capability for Navy in 2010 and Army in 2011.
First Multi-Role helicopters accepted into service
The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) accepted the first two MRH 90 Multi-Role Helicopters (MRH) at the Australian Aerospace facility in Brisbane today.
Under Project AIR 9000, 46 MRH 90s are being procured to the Navy’s Sea King and Army’s Black Hawk fleets as well as additional air-mobile support.
The on-schedule in-service date milestone is a major achievement in the project with the ceremony attended by senior parliamentary, Defence and industry representatives from Australia, France and Germany.
Head of Helicopter Systems Division, Major General Tony Fraser said the acceptance of the first two MRH 90 helicopters was a critical milestone in the project.
"It will provide our sailors and soldiers with a new troop lift helicopter designed for the demands of modern combat operations over land and from ships at sea," he said.
"It is a tangible result of the extensive work done by many contractors and project personnel in a tight timeframe."
The MRH 90 is the first true fly-by-wire helicopter in the world and is equipped with a Forward Looking Infra Red system for flight in low light and has the same pilot helmet-mounted sight and display as used in the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter. It has a larger cabin than the current troop lift aircraft.
A period of test and evaluation, training and aircraft development will now be conducted, leading to initial operational capability for Navy in 2010 and Army in 2011.
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MRH-90 = Hanger Queen
More likely to sit in a hangar somewhere, just like the Tiger's hidden in every nook and cranny at Oakey, waiting for trained crews to turn up! God help us if we get another Eurocopter product!
