Wow JE, you have me worried about big brother now. Or is that les bro de grande?

Every one has a good yarn about a snafu, no matter what the manufacturer. What is interesting here is who will come to the party given it was a factory pilot doing factory stuff on the QES machine. We all make mistakes, but the question here is who's insurance coughs?

QUOTE
"What is interesting here is who will come to the party given it was a factory pilot doing factory stuff on the QES machine"

Depends whos endorsed or imdemnified on the insurance policy! as to whom is responsible...if EC still has an insurance policy notation on the insurance then it will be an excess problem....so then who pays the excess!!!

in any case im sure there will be some serious folding matter that is parted with! :{

HAMMER
HEADED

Quote:
"Any body know how putting the aircraft into “training mode” protects the engines during training???"


The training mode of the EC 135, permits the pilot training one engine inoperative situations, having both running normally.

So as train. mode is turned on, we can switch one engine off, the software installed shows in the FLI page of the Central Panel Display System, an OEI situation, and allows the crew to experience how the aircraft power changes with one engine on, but the trick is , that this only affects the indication.So both engines keep functioning normally, and deliver exactly the power you can read on the FLI page, while it appears you just have one engine on , actually both are sharing the efford.
Example: entering the 2min. band in OEI situation, and pulling 120% torque (training mode on), each engine delivers 60%, so training is posible without exceeding engine limits.

It would appear that Eurocopter offer the aux tank as an option which is fine except that there is no way of installing it as no STC is in force. Strange situation from such a refined company. Or am I wrong?

What Rotorpol has described is the Turbomeca [T2] version, so the Pratts may well be controlled differently.

Maybe your little bird was not in the cabin at this time.............?

This may be slightly off the direction of this thread, But with all the elctronic equipment now fitted to the police Heli's that give the ability to send realtime pictures to a base station, why is there still any need to have a third person on board, when in fact most of that sort of obs work could be carried out remotely from the ground.

That would give more ability to carry more fuel to stay aloft longer.

Vfr

Carefull VFR, that's only a step away from suggesting ROV's!!! I still have 12 years to retirement!

TeeS;)

VfrPete,

The 3rd pair of eyes is essential during high workload police ops such as pursuits. The camera-operating observer is heads-in working the kit, the pilot is monitoring the task but (quite rightly) making flying the aircraft his/her priority, so you need the 3rd person to maintain overwatch/ run air-ground comms. The folk on the ground watching the downlinked pics can ONLY see what the heads-in observer lets them see; there's always a lot more going on than fits into the picture frame. Although you could possibly operate the camera remotely from the ground, visual cueing would be woefully slower and less effective than having a human (or police - nearly the same (sorry Volrider/HnH - cheap dig)) expert operator on board.

EC135 generally,

Our T1s (with sand-filter, aircon, 2B1 donks and permanently-unserviceable-for-over-9-months autopilot fitted) have ZFW of 1912kg. Cat A ops? forget 'em! C of G? We have to make sure that our 2 pilots who are over 100kg never fly together! I have once seen the aircraft loaded with 360kg in the main tank, for a task which involved a quick nip up to the Northern border and back. My congratulations to the Eurocopter sales team; the aircraft is certainly not what I'd have recommended for the job here!

quote:

"What Rotorpol has described is the Turbomeca [T2] version, so the Pratts may well be controlled differently."

DROOPY:
Training mode concept is equal for P2 and T2.
The basic stuff in this mode of two models is "the same".
Operation of the training mode is equal in both models.

the only variants are some words the software uses to indicate states of the system and the training torque limitation which works pretty different in T2 and P2 when ther is a Nr droop.

HAMMERHEADED

Data presentation is highly similar in P2 and T2.Major differences come with caution lights, training mode vocabulary and some other things.:ok:

I note your gripe about the autopilot. In general I have found the EC autopilots less reliable than Bell/Agusta.
Why dont you send it away for repair? And in the meantime have one on loan!

We operate a EC135T2 police role equipped. Basic weight is 1817 kgs plus role equipment brings the APS to 2040 kgs.

The T2 has VTOL (Helipad) up to +36C (0' PA) at mauw. The Clear Helport at mauw up to +46C (0' PA).

We generally operate at 380 kgs giving us 1h 45m but the max (assuming average weights) is 470 kgs giving 2h 5m.

ECD have developing plans to increase to mauw of the T2 to approx 2900 kgs. All that will be required in modification is a software update to the FLI (torquemeter) with a slightly different oil in the MGB.

Our SPIFR EMS EC135 has an empty weight of 1882kgs.(max gross weight 2835kgs) It would have a useful load of 953kgs.
If we subtract 134kgs EMS equipment from the useful load, it would leave about 1087kgs useable.

If you wish to fly with 2 pilots and 4 passengers, figured at 200 lbs each, that's roughly 540kgs. So subtracting 540 from 1087 leaves about 547kgs left.

Since you are flying offshore, floats would have to be added which I am estimating at around 100kgs. That leaves about 447kgs for fuel. The fuel system holds 448kgs in the mains and an additional 92kgs in the supply tanks for a total fuel weight of 540kgs with full fuel.

So as you can see, that extra pilot is holding you back. With a full IFR package coupled to an autopilot system is the extra pilot neccessary?

Since a dual pilot IFR ship would probably weight more than the example I am using, and interior requirements such as seats, passenger baggage,etc would also have to be added, I would recommend you look long and hard at whether or not it would meet your requirements.

An EC135 is a great ship, but it has it's limits.

Two pilots versus one
 

Regrettably for us all the stats prove that two pilots are safer than one - even if he has all the toys to make the workload more manageable. Hence the oil companies (outside the GoM and some other dodgy areas) like to see a two-pilot operation wherever possible. Still - the upside is more jobs for the boys!

Ec135 T2
 

Just passed my 135 T2 check today, nice bit of kit isn't it!
:ok:

Congratulations CyclicRick,

heart you moved back home, wish you all the best.

Frank

Hi Frank, yes I did but I still have to get the LBA to do my license endorsement! I thought I'd got rid of them :(

Rick

Yes, it is nice isn't it. Who are you flying for Rick?

Chaps, can I butt in here with a massive thread diversion? It's thinking about the 135 that prompted it.

Suppose one were to come into money (in this instance, win the lottery twice in successive weeks, with rollovers), give John Osmond a ring (is he still MacAlpines Sales Manager?) and pick up a shiny new 135. Suppose further one lived in say Harwich (on the East coast of England) and fancied a day job at the Helicopter Museum in Weston Super Mare - about 200 miles away.

Is there any advantage to flying the route in airways at FL100-120, assuming pilot as well as machine were SP/IFR? I mean, is there a reduction in fuel consumption? Is it balanced out by a reduction in performance? Is the money saved in a Skywatch set then used up in an oxygen set? Does anyone actually use a helicopter this way?

I thank you for your answers, if any.

Hilico:

Why are you flying a helo, the FW way? What is the point of spending 4 million + when you can buy a secondhand piper commanche for £300,000 which will do what you want to do in twice the time and at half the cost???

Our dear friend Johnny Osman has departed McA for pastures greener. He is now an independent consultant, which is another way of saying he's in between jobs.

He will be sorely missed..................