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The Scariest Helicopter Ever

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The Scariest Helicopter Ever

Old 8th Dec 2012, 07:42
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Angel The Scariest Helicopter Ever

I used to fly around in a Bell 47J with a carburettor and a float valve which in turbulence used to cause the engine to splutter and fart worse than the old crone down the road coming home from the pub... and to make that even worse we did it at night over the ocean landing on ships and oil platforms and I need several scotches just thinking about it which considering I don't drink is saying something... anyway, so my scariest helicopter ever is the Bell 47J... so what's yours... anyway this is all on my blog about helicopters in Kiwi Land and can be found on the following link;

Top Birds & Everyfing

Good luck!

Chris
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 09:02
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I'll take the bait

Hughes 300 A model fuel injected STC'd for Mogas (Super) early 80's

Without blaspheming?? all I can say is that after two silent arrivals and fact that the ink wasn't dry on my licence so I was current the economic disavantages of Avgas in the hotter months were definitely preferable

You all take care now

205Jack

Last edited by 205jack; 8th Dec 2012 at 09:02.
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 09:50
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helicopter with ejection seat

I would have to think that the scariest helicopter would be the russian one with an upward firing ejection seat. Granted the rotor blades were supposed to disengage/release, come off just prior to the ejection, but....

yup...copter, ejection se4at...u do the math
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 10:19
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With syncronisation it is straightforward enough even with the blades attached.
A medium power ejection seat will cause the pilot leave the end of the gun at 60 ft/sec. The pilot and seat is about six feet tall so top to toe will take 1 tenth/sec to pass a certain point.
A 3 bladed main rotor turning at 240 Rrpm is turning at 9 blades/sec so if the seat is sequenced to fire as one blade is approaching the overhead the seat will be clear when the next blade comes around.
Should you have more or a faster rotor then part of the sequence would be to slow the rotors by whatever means to bring back the same time frame.

The advantage of ejector seats is that you can get rid of whining co-pilots.
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 11:40
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Dont be silly - we all know the R22 is the scariest helicopter but we wont admit it.

Last edited by outofwhack; 8th Dec 2012 at 14:52.
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 14:49
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The Scariest Helicopter Ever

Oh give me give me, can I have bang seats in the back as we'll please......wouldn't need GPS, I could just follow the trail of whiney drillers. Scariest for me, the three the donk went quite on.....
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 15:49
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Mine was a Chinook that had one Engine runaway up....that would not respond to the published procedure....and a cloud deck at only 5,000 feet above me. Upon loading the rotor system with Collective....I then had two engines at Max or More than Max power. The only difference was the Ng speeds which had one at Topping....and one well beyond Topping! Talk about being on a Runaway Express Elevator! Smack dab in the middle of that small deviation from normal....we had to add IIMC....me with two students who between them had three hours of Chinook experience.

My Beer tasted very good that evening....despite being very foamy from all the shaking my hand was doing!
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 18:42
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Math

A 3 bladed main rotor turning at 240 Rrpm is turning at 9 blades/sec so if the seat is sequenced to fire as one blade is approaching the overhead the seat will be clear when the next blade comes around.
3 x 240 / 60 = 12 blades/sec.
So with a time window of .1 second, something will have to give.
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 20:07
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on current form it has to be the EC 225
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Old 8th Dec 2012, 20:20
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Nice blog Chris
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 02:07
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Enstrom F-28C...with this supposed to be turbocharged engine, and then R22...they go hand in hand!
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 09:00
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I agree, the Enstrom was the worst thing I have been associated with, it needed 30+ inches of boost just to be airborne, so if the turbo went on holidays, you went onto the ground.
Rattled, shook, refused to start for the second time on a hot day, the clutch was ridiculous, and the dashboard looked like a Leyland P-76, which was the crappiest car ever to be built in Oz.
Enstrom gives me shivers just reminding myself that I flew one.
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 09:29
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In 1978 aeronautical engineering students (maybe with Iranian Aircraft Industries) were assembling 6 Rotorway Scorpion kits at Ghale Morghi airport in Tehran. The Scorpion had a tail rotor driven by multiple V-belts.

The Scorpion was one of the first kit helicopter which really flew, but I don't know if these were ever finished and if they were if anybody was brave enough to fly them
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 09:33
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@ Ascend Charlie; yep, when the turboboost went on holiday, the skid marks became bigger! I don't want to fly this thing ever again!!!
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 10:08
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I would rather be in an Enstrom than Robbie any day of the week. One is gentle and will get you to the ground in one piece the other is a widow maker.
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 11:48
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I do not understand how the Enstrom gets a mention with so many scary helicopters around .....you should get out more , the Enstrom is in fact the gentlest and least scary of ANY helicopter . Granted it may lack power but its never going to hurt you and has safest record in the world i am guessing . . For me it has to be the R22 . The first flight in around 1981 getting a student to enter auto after cutting the throttle in the cruise was enough for me . Never ever want to be in one again .
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 12:26
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Seconded.

These opinions seldom come from anyone with any meaningful Enstrom time.
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 12:29
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Seconded.

These opinions seldom come from anyone with any meaningful Enstrom time.

While I loved the B47 the model I flew (3GB1 iirc) had the hydraulic pump on the engine not the gearbox so if the donk quit you had a hydraulics off EOL to perform which is rather unkind.
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 12:48
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If the engine stops in a B47 I guarantee you won't notice the lack of hydraulics - adrenalin will give you strength - just make sure you run on.
OOW
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Old 9th Dec 2012, 13:01
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Who'd fly this?

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