Catching a Rocket with an S-92
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 209
Likes: 12
From: Underneath the Radar
Catching a Rocket with an S-92
Anyone got more details on this one? Looks like a Bristow machine
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/r...ir-185687.html
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/r...ir-185687.html
Avoid imitations
Joined: Nov 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 15,110
Likes: 1,083
From: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Trying to capture a rapidly descending, low forward speed parachute with a helicopter isn’t a job I’d like to be doing for a living.
No doubt the crew have attended Monsieur Vichard’s course….
No doubt the crew have attended Monsieur Vichard’s course….
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,067
Likes: 40
From: On the big blue planet
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 165
From: Hobe Sound, Florida
Shy, you are on point. Not long after I was hired on at Sikorsky in 1966, the USAF started the Mid Air Retrieval System project to retrieve Firebee Drones with their photos. I recall talking to Johnny Parker, one of the two test pilots doing the initial program out west and he told about an early instance where they had caught the parachute in that hook arrangement out the hack of the CH-3C, but then the load started oscillating and his words were-John, I knew we were in trouble when I could see our load out the front windshield.
Absolutely no connection with what they were about, ( I think ) but that test group from Sikorsky spent a long time out west ( Yuma?? ) and were afterward semi-infamous as the divorce rate among that bunch afterwards was 50%.
Absolutely no connection with what they were about, ( I think ) but that test group from Sikorsky spent a long time out west ( Yuma?? ) and were afterward semi-infamous as the divorce rate among that bunch afterwards was 50%.
Joined: May 2002
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
Posts: 18,633
Likes: 1,072
From: Downeast
Old Trick....new Dog!
White Sands Missile Test Range used Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave Helicopters to retrieve ICBM Nose Cones using the Mid-Air Retrieval Method and later the US Navy and Air Force retrieved Firebee Reece Drones during Vietnam War days using SH-3 Sea Kings and H-3 and CH-53 Jolly Greens.
White Sands Missile Test Range used Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave Helicopters to retrieve ICBM Nose Cones using the Mid-Air Retrieval Method and later the US Navy and Air Force retrieved Firebee Reece Drones during Vietnam War days using SH-3 Sea Kings and H-3 and CH-53 Jolly Greens.
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 165
From: Hobe Sound, Florida
MARS
There used to be a good online close-up video of the USAF doing a catch with their CH-3 but cannot find it anymore. It included the whole sequence wherein after the catch, the drone parachute was disconnected etc They fielded a unit and deployed to SE Asia and were successful doing that mission operationally.with some hundreds of catches as I recall being told.
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 34
Likes: 1
From: Long way south
Yeah the machine is an ex Bristow ,now owned by Rocketlab in NZ , planning to catch the rocket on re-entry and sling it to land to reduce damage to the rocket and allow it to be re-used again quicker and cheaper. I wish them luck but am a bit worried about the stress of the sudden increase in weight on the rotor and airframe.
"Just a pilot"
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 633
Likes: 8
From: Jefferson GA USA
At my PHI initial training in 1983 and subsequently, I met pilots who had done this b
At my PHI initial training in 1983 and subsequently, I met pilots who had done this before for PHI.
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,951
Likes: 90
From: After all, what’s more important than proving to someone on the internet that they’re wrong? - Manson
No doubt it is all "doable".
At 173 miles offshore as quoted I guess that means a big fuel tank? Out and back, time on station, reserves etc. Or maybe the standard legs are enough as they are pretty long? GE engines after all are pretty frugal.
Can't help thinking it might feel a bit lonely out there at that distance! Although I think they will still have some sort of vessel out there in case they "miss" and still recover the booster.
Certainly be "interesting".
a customized Sikorsky S-92 twin-engine helicopter
Can't help thinking it might feel a bit lonely out there at that distance! Although I think they will still have some sort of vessel out there in case they "miss" and still recover the booster.
Certainly be "interesting".
Joined: Oct 2006
Aviation Qualifications: A&P
Posts: 1,346
Likes: 270
From: USA
FYI: PHI did their first one off the coast of Virginia in the mid-1960s for NASA which then continued for several years thereafter. I had started in 1982 and there were a number of photos of those missions in a cabinet in the fixed wing hangar.
Then there was this system.Joined: Sep 2004
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL(H)
Posts: 2,372
Likes: 877
From: Canada
