Mono-skid JetRanger??
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Mono-skid JetRanger??
My large ears recently heard a little tickle that a float-equipped 206 took to the air at Blackpool only for "one of the skids" to fall off..
Anybody know any more? VFRpilotb - isnt that your neck of the woods?
Anybody know any more? VFRpilotb - isnt that your neck of the woods?
Better story than that guys.....there is a very fine man down in Dallas, Texas area now that is reputed to have made two running landings in a snow covered area near Jumbo's Pub in a BO-105.....with no skids at all! Cannot swear to something I did not see with my very own eyes....but it was reported by a very reputable source. Seems the trainee made a kinda ruff landing of it...was then given a demo by the instructor.....and during the analysis of the maneuver it was noticed there was lots of dirt and grass ploughed up in the touchdown area. Upon further inspection....someone noticed a set of skids protruding from a snow bank with some great similarity to those of the aircraft being flown.
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No, but an internationally known 'film' pilot came out of retirement, or off his boat, for a spacecam job in Victoria, Oz about 6 months ago. Borrowed another 'film' pilot's LongRanger, positioned from Sydney.
All went swimmingly until he broke left after one run alongside the hero car, and dug the heel of the left skid into the road. Exit one left skid tube, clean off at both saddles
Apparently found a quarry to settle into for the night, ginger beers came in with new saddles next day, all bolted back together (with original skid and crosstubes......) and is now happily back in retirement.
But don't tell anyone, it's all been kept very quiet
All went swimmingly until he broke left after one run alongside the hero car, and dug the heel of the left skid into the road. Exit one left skid tube, clean off at both saddles
Apparently found a quarry to settle into for the night, ginger beers came in with new saddles next day, all bolted back together (with original skid and crosstubes......) and is now happily back in retirement.
But don't tell anyone, it's all been kept very quiet
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Discovery Channel Special!
I saw a Discovery Channel show one day a few months ago about a Jet Ranger that had some kind of a problem and mangled its skids all to hell, hanging off by one saddle point I believe. They had the pilot come down low so the Fire Dept. could cut off the skids completley, then had him set down in a snow bank. No problems, everyone was OK. Wierdest thing...
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These posts show that wheel problems are easier to handle than skids!
Once had to land a 76 with the nose wheel up on 2 piles of sugar sacks without much problem.
In Borneo a Wessex Mk 1 smashed his left oleo on a heavy landing and bounced back into the air. The Wessex was hovered for about 5 hours with refuels in the hover and changes of pilots while they waited for another Wessex to come back so that they could remove his left oleo.
All good fun.
Once had to land a 76 with the nose wheel up on 2 piles of sugar sacks without much problem.
In Borneo a Wessex Mk 1 smashed his left oleo on a heavy landing and bounced back into the air. The Wessex was hovered for about 5 hours with refuels in the hover and changes of pilots while they waited for another Wessex to come back so that they could remove his left oleo.
All good fun.
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But why hover for hours? Why not fly it at Vy, costs less fuel, less demanding and thus less exhausting for the pilot as well..
Autorotations would be spectacular, though..
Autorotations would be spectacular, though..
Avoid imitations
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Once watched a Helikopter Service BV432 (Chinook) lift to the hover off from Forus, only to leave its complete rear left undercarriage and wheel on the ground. The aircraft was full of oilies at the time expecting to go out to a rig.
There followed an interesting hour or hour so while they tried to land it back on; the aircraft wasn't stable on three wheels but they managed to disembark the relieved pax safely.
The aircraft was eventually hover taxied onto the ramp which I think had to be cleared of equipment etc to avoid downwash problems. They eventually put it down on sandbags without further drama, having recovered the "runway blockage".
On the Puma we used to carry a "sandbag plan" in the bits box which was a template of canvas squares held together by tapes, over which sandbags could be placed, to allow a wheels up landing to be made. The other method (which I saw in action) was to dig holes in the grass for the lower aerials and just to land on the retracted wheels, which were designed without doors for just that eventuality
There followed an interesting hour or hour so while they tried to land it back on; the aircraft wasn't stable on three wheels but they managed to disembark the relieved pax safely.
The aircraft was eventually hover taxied onto the ramp which I think had to be cleared of equipment etc to avoid downwash problems. They eventually put it down on sandbags without further drama, having recovered the "runway blockage".
On the Puma we used to carry a "sandbag plan" in the bits box which was a template of canvas squares held together by tapes, over which sandbags could be placed, to allow a wheels up landing to be made. The other method (which I saw in action) was to dig holes in the grass for the lower aerials and just to land on the retracted wheels, which were designed without doors for just that eventuality
Nigel, was the S76 with Jeff?
I agree that generally the problem is less dramatic with wheels, although I did partner a pilot on a gravity survey around Tom Price who managed to break (separate) skid tubes on a JetRanger on two different days The first time he came back after an hour or so, the second time he just kept on landing every 4 minutes for 6 hours on the broken skid. Hmmmmm 
Wheels: one QHI got a bit enthusiastic during downwind fast stops at Predannack and managed to remove the Wessex tailwheel, and part of the rear fuselage, whilst wracking it around. Hovered at Culdrose for some time until a baggage trolley was pressed into service.
Malarky Jim (where is he these days?) did a fine job hovering a Whirlwind HAS7 for a tyre change after I got a bit enthusiastic on the brakes during an engine off
Previous mention already made about low level filming & skid tubes!!
I agree that generally the problem is less dramatic with wheels, although I did partner a pilot on a gravity survey around Tom Price who managed to break (separate) skid tubes on a JetRanger on two different days
The first time he came back after an hour or so, the second time he just kept on landing every 4 minutes for 6 hours on the broken skid. Hmmmmm Wheels: one QHI got a bit enthusiastic during downwind fast stops at Predannack and managed to remove the Wessex tailwheel, and part of the rear fuselage, whilst wracking it around. Hovered at Culdrose for some time until a baggage trolley was pressed into service.
Malarky Jim (where is he these days?) did a fine job hovering a Whirlwind HAS7 for a tyre change after I got a bit enthusiastic on the brakes during an engine off
Previous mention already made about low level filming & skid tubes!!
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Stevie,
Yep it sure is in my neck of the woods, I will start my inquirys asap, and report back, should'nt take to long there are only I think two JRs with float equipment at Egnh, and on one of them the canvas of the folded floats was in very poor condition and in fact looked almost unservisable. I'll be back!
Yep it sure is in my neck of the woods, I will start my inquirys asap, and report back, should'nt take to long there are only I think two JRs with float equipment at Egnh, and on one of them the canvas of the folded floats was in very poor condition and in fact looked almost unservisable. I'll be back!
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Some years ago the pilot of a Hughes500 flying tours over Niagara Falls (NOTE: from the US side!) decided to buzz the "Spanish Cablecar" which runs back and forth over the famous Whirlpool a few miles downstream from the Falls. He misjudged and the cables sheered off the entire skid assembly - OOPS!
He wound up belly landing the 500 on the public golf course just south of the Whirlpool and of course on the Canadian side. He kept it right-side-up long enough to let the passengers climb out and once he shut down, the machine toppled over. Nobody was injured and the pilot is now an ex-pilot - natch!
This one is gospel truth - I saw it with my own eyes - I was flying tours from the Canadian side at the time. We all took lots of pictures and I'm sure Ruedi at NHL still has some in his desk somewhere.
He wound up belly landing the 500 on the public golf course just south of the Whirlpool and of course on the Canadian side. He kept it right-side-up long enough to let the passengers climb out and once he shut down, the machine toppled over. Nobody was injured and the pilot is now an ex-pilot - natch!
This one is gospel truth - I saw it with my own eyes - I was flying tours from the Canadian side at the time. We all took lots of pictures and I'm sure Ruedi at NHL still has some in his desk somewhere.
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I guess you're referring to something recent? Or was it a pilot's yarn in the bar one night referring to a JetRanger in the late 1980s which managed to rip off the skids while spraying? As I recall, it immediately flew to its maintenance base at Blackpool where a new set was fitted while the pilot hovered. Reg was G-FSCL from memory.
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PPHELI It might have been a pilots yarn, but it was definitely recently, probably within the last month or so. However, I am surprised nobody seems to know about it - its not the sort of thing you see every day really! Even Peter B "Our man in the North West" hasn't been able to help yet.
Maybe I just dreamt the whole thing..
(dreamt? is that a proper word - it doesnt seem quite right to me somehow)
Maybe I just dreamt the whole thing..
(dreamt? is that a proper word - it doesnt seem quite right to me somehow)
ppheli - I'm pretty sure it was 1985 and the pilot's initials were A.R.
On the wheels up stories, I remember a Bristows AS330 got horrendous front wheel shimmy at Labuan, Borneo in 1982; there was damage to the oleo so the on site engineer scurried around to find something on which to land the nosewheel area. After shutdown, the engineer assessed the damage and decided to get to work, turning to open his tool cabinet....which was now supporting the aircraft nose as there'd been nothing else solid enough to hand
On the wheels up stories, I remember a Bristows AS330 got horrendous front wheel shimmy at Labuan, Borneo in 1982; there was damage to the oleo so the on site engineer scurried around to find something on which to land the nosewheel area. After shutdown, the engineer assessed the damage and decided to get to work, turning to open his tool cabinet....which was now supporting the aircraft nose as there'd been nothing else solid enough to hand
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To Copter
Copter,
Not so recently attended a Bell Helicopter Aeronautical Judgment Course, during the course Jim Zimansky (hope its spelled right) showed and gave me a copy of a video in which they show exactly the incident that you describe, a 500 which hits a cable over the Niagara area, the video was take by the front seat passenger and one second you can clearly see the skid, then a noise a small oscillation and the skid is gone, the passenger asks whats wrong and the pilot says "I don't know" he goes to the golf field for a landing, and there he realizes that he has no skids, and while the tape is still running the pilot asks the passengers to jump out while in a hover, they comply, jump out and run about 50 yards away and keep taping as the pilot carefully chooses a spot to put it down, and this is where I differ from your narration, the pilot puts it down and very nicely and shuts down completely without the helicopter ever rolling to the ground until the time that the rotor stops, did the helicopter roll afterwards? Or is this another similar accident?
I'll try to put the accident on Quicktime and on the web ASAP if the file is not too large as it is long.
Not so recently attended a Bell Helicopter Aeronautical Judgment Course, during the course Jim Zimansky (hope its spelled right) showed and gave me a copy of a video in which they show exactly the incident that you describe, a 500 which hits a cable over the Niagara area, the video was take by the front seat passenger and one second you can clearly see the skid, then a noise a small oscillation and the skid is gone, the passenger asks whats wrong and the pilot says "I don't know" he goes to the golf field for a landing, and there he realizes that he has no skids, and while the tape is still running the pilot asks the passengers to jump out while in a hover, they comply, jump out and run about 50 yards away and keep taping as the pilot carefully chooses a spot to put it down, and this is where I differ from your narration, the pilot puts it down and very nicely and shuts down completely without the helicopter ever rolling to the ground until the time that the rotor stops, did the helicopter roll afterwards? Or is this another similar accident?
I'll try to put the accident on Quicktime and on the web ASAP if the file is not too large as it is long.
Last edited by BlenderPilot; 9th Aug 2002 at 20:27.
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Hi stevie,
Sorry for the delay, all my EGNH contacts are on hols at the mo, but one contact who was there this week has heard nothing at all about this "Alleged incident", but still searching,
I will be back!
Sorry for the delay, all my EGNH contacts are on hols at the mo, but one contact who was there this week has heard nothing at all about this "Alleged incident", but still searching,
I will be back!
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Wayne Mulgrew (RIP) of Apollo Helicopters in Oregon set several world records in the Robinson R22 in the early 1990s. For his speed record, he took minimal fuel and hovered the R22. His ground crew then removed the skid gear. Wayne completed his timed flights, came back into the hover and the skid gear was replaced...........
