N185CH

[PPRuNeUser469990]

Any idea what this is doing flying around the UK this week? (Manchester, Tatenhill, Biggin Hill etc)

[7of9]

It’s not a Chinook!

[chevvron]

It's not a Chinook; it only has one engine and is thus a CH 46 not a CH 47.

[PPRuNeUser469990]

Two engines?

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinq...umberTxt=185CH

https://aeropedia.com.au/content/kawasaki-kv-107/

[Rho Tarbled]

Rather a big aircraft to be single engine.

[G-ARZG]

Originally Posted by Rho Tarbled

Rather a big aircraft to be single engine.

No doubt that's why it has two licence-built CT58's then !

[treadigraph]

I'd like to have seen that! If I'd been paying attention at 10am when it departed Biggin, I might have done!

Looks doing a lift at Tatton Park?

[albatross]

Looking at the N number…..ex- Columbia Helicopters or perhaps a long term lease from them.
N185CH KV107 by swissheli.com
A Kawasaki built aircraft. CN 4003
It would be funny if is also the one used in the James Bond film “You only Live Twice”.

UPDATE: Found out it was not the Kawasaki/Vertol used in “You Only Live Twice” that was “ 1963-05-20 BV-107II-2 c/n 105
supplied in kit form to Kawasaki in 1962, built as KV-107II-2, c/n 4004, del KHI-Air Lift Inc as JA9503, 20May63.
used in filming James Bond 007 movie "You Only Live Twice"
w/o 05Aug67 with 1872 total flight hours.
https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/55986
The Heliswiss N185CH is Kawasaki C/N 4003 the preceding one off the line.

[TURIN]

Found these on the interweb.

[helispotter]

Originally Posted by chevvron

It's not a Chinook; it only has one engine and is thus a CH 46 not a CH 47.

chevvron: were you thinking about the S-61 (twin engine) vs S-62 (single engine) which otherwise also have a somewhat similar appearance to one another?

[Brewster Buffalo]

Originally Posted by treadigraph

I'd like to have seen that! If I'd been paying attention at 10am when it departed Biggin, I might have done!

Looks doing a lift at Tatton Park?

Lifting from Tatton Park to the nearby sewage farm...

[Jack Carson]

Having visited JMSDF helicopter mines sweeping squadron in the 1980s, the KHI Vertol 107s were the current airborn minesweeping assets of the time. They were being replaced by a fleet of Sikorsky S-80M-1 (MH-53Es) at that time The 107s were sold world wide. I later saw one was part of a Swedish navy fleet. They were relatively low flight time machines as the JMSDF retired their aircraft after 5000 hours as part of the JMSDF policy. They were also meticulously maintained.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

One of my favourite "what-if's" when I was younger - what if the UK had bought 107s (or Phrogs, or other mil versions thereof) as a means of using all those Gnome engines instead of the Wessex? All that useful cabin space, with excellent access - and no combining gearbox or engines pointed at some ridiculous angle down toward the ground requiring an equally-ridiculous nose-door. I'm sure the Phrog had its handling idiosyncrasies, but were they any worse than the ground-resonance-prone, over-powered but underperforming (especially at altitude) Wessex? I bet the seating arrangement was less likely to cripple the pilot, too.

[treadigraph]

Do I recall the CH-46 had something of a structural issue early on (I saw a macabre joke that an airborne CH-46 could potentially become a formation of two CH-23s...)?

[SASless]

no combining gearbox

Well not the same one in the Wessex perhaps.

The Boeing Vertol 107-II is a large twin-turbine engined Air Transport category helicopter of all-metal semi-monococque stressed-skin construction. It has tandem 3-bladed fully articulated rotorheads with partially-overlapping blades, which are synchronised by a mix box, forward and aft transmissions and interconnecting drive shafts.

Also known as Combining Gearbox as in the Chinook which has a similar design.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Quite right of course, SASless - but in my 6 years on Wessex vs 9 years on Chinook, I never heard of any crew wrecking a Vertol (OK, Boeing..) combiner whereas the one in the Wessex (and Lynx..) positively invited error from distracted aircrew. I wouldn't mind betting that the HYD systems on the Vertol design both carried on working in the event of a double-donk stop, unlike the Wessex.

[Bitmonx]

Originally Posted by Thud_and_Blunder

Quite right of course, SASless - but in my 6 years on Wessex vs 9 years on Chinook, I never heard of any crew wrecking a Vertol (OK, Boeing..) combiner whereas the one in the Wessex (and Lynx..) positively invited error from distracted aircrew. I wouldn't mind betting that the HYD systems on the Vertol design both carried on working in the event of a double-donk stop, unlike the Wessex.

The hydraulics on the 107 are driven by the front rotor gearbox

[albatross]

Tis always best to speak reverently of the RCAF SAR Labrador Helicopter variant.
The crews luved that machine.

You Tube

[SASless]

Tread,

Do I recall the CH-46 had something of a structural issue early on (I saw a macabre joke that an airborne CH-46 could potentially become a formation of two CH-23s...)?

I met a very nice fellow who had reached senior management at one of the Gulf of Mexico outfits that had in his service in the US Navy been a pilot in just such a CH-23...and survived the event despite it having occurred in cruise flight. I rubbed his shoulder raw hoping such luck would rub off on to me.

[chopper2004]

Originally Posted by SASless

Tread,



I met a very nice fellow who had reached senior management at one of the Gulf of Mexico outfits that had in his service in the US Navy been a pilot in just such a CH-23...and survived the event despite it having occurred in cruise flight. I rubbed his shoulder raw hoping such luck would rub off on to me.

I know him , and remembered the story of the HC-16 'Bullfrogs' CH-46E catastrophic failure believe he was Co at the time. He was also a Seawolf during Vietnam war, HAi Chairman for a while over a decade ago. Then ended up as VP sales of Bell mainly concentrating in the European and Mid East and then concentrating on Far east before leaving Bell.

cheers