Africa Ride
 

Hi!!!

Just found this movie while surfing in the web... I am a low time as350 driver and this video left my hands sweat...
Comments please


http://www.biff.nl/images/filmpjes/H...d%20Afrika.wmv

Regards

Artur


PS: I don´t know if this movie was posted before, if so disregard the topic.

Nothing very difficult in the way of flying.

But with paying passengers? I think not. There seems to have been several crashes of tour helicopters in the last several years that may have been caused by some flying like that.

Thanks for posting karroo.
Good video. :ok:

Anyone on a dial-up connection might want to save to the hard drive first.

Heliport

certainly pushing the boundaries of ' when not if ! '

AS350 Video
 

Negative G pushovers and gung ho flying like that were great and fun, for the pilot and pax at the time...suprised not to see any hammerheads in there.... If the pilot was wanting an early grave, then flying like that would give it to him/her. :uhoh:

I saw a million forced landing sights there, just none of them any good....:ouch:

If there was Pax on board.... would they want to come back again .... I guess they would.. They take away a thrill and nothing less. The pilot has to live with the day that the donkey quits, and he killed 5 pax :{

I guess it is all a £$£$£$ game. Who lives longest to tell of most enjoyment and profit.... verus i chopper crash.... costing $$$ and lives..... Does it all mount up to a viable venture? :eek:


MD :sad:

Well what can one say?

Same old circus,
different CLOWNS.....:(

two words .... servo transparency.....

There was a couple of times that he may have been in a world of hurt if those servos locked up !

Servos & things
 

I have had servos lock in a 350, pretty scary:eek: . happened to me with an external load (faulty servo) would not be nice at all to have one lock up during some of that flight. Not to mention all of the other possible emergencies:uhoh: He's probably glad he can't be easily identified. But no amount of preaching will ever stop people flying this way. It's exciting!.... I personally don't fly like that with pax on board... but on my own.... who knows what goes on.
There will always be helicopter accidents, and tour pilots I'm sure get bored as hell doing the same route, day in, day out. It's really hard to force yourself into remembering that for the people in the back, it's exciting enough without all that rock'n'roll.:cool:
Enjoy it....but please live to tell the tale:)

I shat myself just watching that!!!

Is that guy just plain stupid or what??!!!! No wonder [pilots] like that give the press a field day when the donkey stops!!!

:mad:





The PPRuNe software deletes bad language for a reason - we don't want it.
Please don't get round it by adding *** to words.
Heliport

Good question. :ok:

Hope we get some good answers - with reasons.

H.

Some of us are guilty of doing similar flights at some points in our careers. We lived through it, and that silly stage passed. We became better, smoother, more professional, more mature, OLDER pilots. A few didn't.
This guy s is probably not a bad pilot, but he did do something that some of us have learned not to do.

In my opinon, he did put the aircraft in a position that if the "known issue" of servo transparency developed, if only for an instant, he may have been in danger. That type of aircraft has been know to do that, so fly the type accordingly. Fly smoothly, and always leave yourself that exit. Flying agressively toward rocks could put you in a bad situation...IF something does happen.

Must say that if I was on holiday and went for a tour in a helicopter like that one, It would probably be one thing I wouldn't forget. Looked and sounded like the pax had a great flight though. We try strange things on holidays.
They don't understand the in's & out's of flying so don't really care for the difficult situations that the pilot may get himself & said pax into, if like 407 driver & fishboy pointed out about failing servo's or the donk failing.
Great vid all the same. Looked a lot of fun, bit hair raising, but fun!;)

You never know, it could have been the pax that asked for a thrill ride and the pilot was just giving them their moneys worth.......they did seem to be throughoutly enjoying it!

That video clip shows a classic and deadly case of overconfidence and low experience.

He has not only put himself in harm's way but even more disturbing, the lives of those poor passengers. It may look impressive but it just isn’t worth it.

I was down in that part of the world more than 20 years ago, engaging in similar operations, for a job. A huge investigation had been completed a few years previously into the amount of GA accidents that was prevailing. I read the findings and recommendations with interest. From what I experienced down there, "beat ups" were a way of life and commonplace. This cowboy approach to aviation IMHO could have been the cause of more accidents than some reports seemed to suggest.

Aggression and violent manauvers have no place in civil avaition. Best channelled into the military or the rugby field.

Some interesting flying with few options if the donk stops.

What is 'servo transparency'? I have searched the forums and the only place the phrase comes up is on this thread. Are you talking about the servos being unable to cope with the aerodynamic backloads at high speed/g (the Gazelle's jackstall) or something else?

'Servo Transparency' is another name for Jack Stall. Servo Reversibility is another one.

As well as the Gazelle, it can happen in the AS350B, AS355E, and EC120B.

(Some say it can happen in any helicopter with hydraulics.)



H.

"servo transparency" is the exact terminology that Aerospatiale used in the 350B manual years ago when I flew that type. Not sure if they still use that term, I haven't read a Eurocopter 350 manual in years.

and Yes, it could happen to any aircraft with hydraulics.

Crab.. here is the earlier thread..
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154199

I had to use 'Advanced Search' and change the 'Find Posts from' date.

cheers,
Greg

Thanks for the info chaps, I clearly wasn't using the search facility properly.

Having now read the thread it seems that the AS350 might suffer from 2 problems a. jackstall like the gazelle because the hydraulic servos are not man enough for the job. and b. another hydraulic problem that leaves the controls feeling 'locked' and can occur at high DA without neccesarily harsh handling being required.

I taught/demoed jackstall at CFS and Middle Wallop and it doesn't feel like the controls 'lock' - it feels like retreating blade stall since the highest aerodynamic back loads are on the retreating side and that is where the jack stalls. If the controls 'locked' you wouldn't be able to take the corrective action of reducing the severity of the manoeuvre to recover.

Answer - don't fly French helicopters.

No way in hell I'd fly like that with passengers on board or even solo. I agree that type of flying is best left for combat.