Brilliant Stuff,

That was more than likely just a "story" to keep people happy and divert attention from the real issue.

This vent, on both sides, is "7" shaped, if that makes any sense, where the long leg of the 7 is roughly vertical (leading up from the master box space) and the short leg (to the exit vent) points slightly down and towards the rear of the aircraft. Thus, when in forward flight, air from the master box area is indeed extracted. If you're washing the aircraft, squirting a hose (or even jet-wash) at that area from anything aft of the vent is plain foolish.

Having flown many hours in the high hover in pi**ing rain, it's not a problem, as you'd need some very interesting airflows to get any water into the vent.
ECD put out some advice (3-4 years ago?) to cover the vent when washing the aircraft. Actually, so long as you ensure any water that goes near the vent is only directed from the front, or above, and along/down the aircraft skin - (i.e. as rain would go when on the ground, or in flight) you shouldn't have any problems, vent covered or not. That's from approx weekly washing experience of 5 years + on an aircraft flying 1000+ hrs per year.:ok:

The other area to watch out for is the air ducts under the chin - squirting water in there may affect the air blower, as it's mounted with the electrical bits under the motor. The result is that any water sitting static in the motor fan area may seep its way into the electrics & the fan eventually stops playing. Fit the suppplied blanks while washing & you'll be OK. :D

Wot .. no FADEC? (Poor battery) :E



Wot .. no headsets? (Wot next)

I'm quite sure that the last movie is shot in a simulator

Its a sim, the cockpit would be alot brighter if it was real and they would both be wearing headsets. Great view aswell which would be difficult to achieve if it were the real thing.

Looks like the CAE-Sim of German Army in Bückeburg.

skadi

And with the needles on the FLI moving around, it doesn't look like an auto.

JAPAN
 

Last year City Air Services started a shuttle from the Mori Building in downtown Tokyo to Tokyo Internation Airport.

The transfer take approx. 15 minutes and costs about Y50,000.

The helicopter used is the Hermes version of the EC135.

http://weekenderjapan.com/wp-content...9/10/Heli3.jpg

EC135 Hermes approaches the MORI Building in downtown Tokyo

http://weekenderjapan.com/wp-content...9/10/Heli1.jpg

EC135 Hermes landing on MORI Building roof pad

http://www.luxuo.com/wp-content/uplo...er-468x311.jpg

The 'helicopter hostesses' of City Air Services

http://www.luxuo.com/wp-content/uplo...er-468x313.jpg

'Helicopter Hostess' to assist with passenger embarkation and taking fare from passengers

http://weekenderjapan.com/wp-content...9/10/Heli2.jpg

Passenger compartment of EC135 Hermes

http://www.luxuo.com/wp-content/uplo...er-468x315.jpg

View over downtown Tokyo on route to airport

http://www.mutantfrog.com/wp-content...helicopter.jpg

TC landed on MORI building during the promotion of his 'Valkyrie' film

What's with the latest FLM/PCL revisions?

"Ground IDLE (within ~45 sec) - Check N2 ~74%"

Rough estimate or a startup limitation? Normal startup takes 42-43 seconds every time and if it takes 46''?... shut it down, enter the discrepancy in helicopters log book?

When is the startup completed? At 50%, when the engine is autonomus and starter becomes generator, or at stabilised RPM (~74% N2)?



Looking at EC's FLM after each revision more and more useless and mindboggling stuff is entering the pages with no logic support. Like the change in the preflight (cabin roof instead of cabin top). More and more idotic revision pages that come in great numbers changing nothing. Don't get me started on Supplement revisions. Whole supplement changed once because of a picture being lowered two text rows.

Is PCL an official checklist from eurocopter or just a help for crews; being revised long after the FLM changes?


The latest ENG switch guard is a joke, isn't it? You almost have to reposition the ENG switch back to flight to remove the guard for shut down. I was told that the modification is to prevent unintentional shutwodn of the good, healthy (only) engine. I mean, If I previously removed one IDLE guard to shut it down, if it's in my mind I will remove the second, third and tenth guard and shut it down.

I don't see anything like that happening to agusta (109). It seems that they have to change the helicopter for every accident it happens, instead of making it better, they are making it worse IMHO.
The one thing that EC never thought of is maybe a light at the end of ENG swtich that would glow bright red if engine is at idle or off and green for flight. They never thought one would be flying it at night and you can't see the damn switches without a light.

Ah, but Phoinix, knowing Eurocrapter cockpit design philosophy you'd find that in order to operate these switch-lights in the dark, you'd first have to turn your head 90 degrees and look up at the rear of the cockpit roof to pick one of 3 identically designed busbar switches, move a guard and then operate it, then automatically cancel some new alert that it will have brought up on your advisory panel (with associated audio 'bong', identical to that for all other occurrences...)

I really do wonder if the engineers who build EC135 cockpits for the convenience of other engineers ever consider inviting a pilot into the design process. Someone who's heard of coriolis disorientation, perhaps...

Yes, I KNOW the 135 is the light utility heli of the future, but PLEASE could someone who's seen an MD902 cockpit advise Donauworth on how best to put together a future T3/P3?

Right, and the new EC blooper... this one is getting it's imprint down the idiot lane.

Check engine warning light being introduced on newest ships some weeks ago is to be disconected by an ASB effective before next flight. Right... :) Nice job...

:ugh:

I guess no pilots are present at the desk when these dumb decisions are made. I imagine two lawyers and a couple of christmas tree engeneers making making the call. Maybe a new SB is coming out for holidays so that the cockpit lights flicker on weinacht baum tune. At operators expenses i'm sure.

Phoinix,

Would these consultants be the pilots that managed to take off with one engine in idle?
Or the ones that tried to take off with the cyclic locked?
I agree that perhaps it would be best to not try to engineer solutions to
all people issues.
(Tongue planted firmly in cheek)

Rigidhead

I actually did this whilst sat down with the Chief Design Engineer of the EC135 some time ago. His look said it all - I had two heads or something like that.

They will have to figure out a better system than they have at the moment. One day they install CHECK ENG warning light that proved to be confusing during training mode. Dooooh, every idea they have is only 10% thought out.

It seems every incident and accident that happens influences a huge change that is not thought of thorough enough (or not at all) and causes even more confusion.

I'm sure if I fall of a helicopter during preflight and tell that to EC we will have a retrofit carabiner mounted in the next SB.

Two engines vs one engine, large cabin vs no cabin, more capabilities vs limited capabilities, seems like a pretty easy choice EC135

emsmech,

I'm not quite sure from your post - what comparison are you making?

EC-135 Aero Questions
 

I am writing a EC-135 study guide. I am looking for the answers to the following questions:
1. Main rotor hub hinge offset Value
2. Normal landing attitude
3. In a hover, pitch attitude that will result in the helicopter accelerating
4. Normal hover attitude
Thanks.

It's a hingeless rotor hub...can you elaborate?

1. See nodramas post above.
2. Skids first.
3. Anything above 0 degrees.
4. Rotordisk on top.

:E I was thinking it!

Somebodies lost/never had a sense humour.:}

2. On high skidded aircraft rear left skids touches first.

Don't know about low skidded one's since I wasn't allowed to land those.

With low skids the same :p

skadi

EC-135 Aero Questions
 

I know the EC-135 has a hingeless rotor head where there is no mechanical hinge to speak of. However, there is a area or spot somewhere along the span of the EC-135 main rotor blade where the flapping motion occurs. It could be called the flapping point.

On the Dauphin's hingleless rotor head the main rotor hinge offset value is 6%.

On Bell two bladed main rotor head the main rotor hinge offset value is 0%.

The larger the main rotor hinge offset value the move maneuverable the
helicopter.

The Dauphin's normal hover attitude is 4 degrees pitch up and 3 degrees right wing down. This hover attitude does not change unless the helicopter is load outside its CG limits.

With the helicopter load within its CG limits, I just want to know what the EC-135 normal hover attiude is.

Thanks

I'll try to get that data today for you.

What do you use as your standard hover height when taxying etc, i have heard various figures (skid to ground)? 2feet? 3 feet? 4 feet? 7 feet? etc etc

One train of thought is to keep it close to the ground (2-3ft) so that in the event of an engine failure or TR drive failure you have got less of a drop, the downside of this is that if the aircraft is mishandled you increase the chance of a tail-strike or skid strike?

Any opinions??

We had two bumpers damaged already and no engine / tail rotor / drive shaft failure. I would say we normally taxi at around 10ft.

DavidD135, hover attitude for our 135P2+ is 7° nose up, CG within limits.

Floats for EC135
 

Hi

In summer I plan to fly with EC135 to Norway. Since the trip requires some small sea crossing and there is a lot of Fjords in Norway, my question is about floats. I am pretty sure, that any chopper goes under water like rock, and spinning rotor can kill anyone who tries to escape.

During my type rating, my instructor enjoyed shutting down one engine almost constatnlly, so I know thay EC135 is able to reach shore with OEI under any situation. Do I really need the floats for my trip or not? which other survivable emergencies I can have, where floats can help?

Besides a double engine or tail rotor failure, you need to look at how short your sea crossings are. Don't forget that a minor issue over land of Fuel Transfer Pump failures can make you sweat over the sea if more than ~20mins from land (if fuel in the main tank isn't high enough to slosh over in the supply part).
At least with floats it does give you an option, albeit not the best one.

But, if it is a private flight, the choice is yours.

Fuel transfer pump failure worst case scenario would be you can't get the last 60kg if you go faster than 80kts with the forward pump failed but if you slow down to below 80kts then it's only 4kg. If the rearward one fails and you go faster than 80kts minimum unusable fuel will be 7.5kg.

I hope that helps.

If it was me flying private and I know the machine I would be happy to go without floats.

I personally think woodland would be more dangerous compared to water, and they don't do floats for woods.

Problems with main tank in EC135
 

Hi

Several months ago I have started to have problems with fuel QTY meter in main on my 2008 EC135P2+. The symptoms was FULE QTY DEGR message, and faulty indication in main tank. Talked to maintanence, they suggested water in fuel so I have drained tank, refueled and added a little bit of Priest in order to get rid of water. When ever I put some priest I went to fly to consume the prist with fuel. It helped.

When the chopper went to 100hrs inspection I suggested to check fuel QTY meters in main tank, and WHAT A SH.....T!!!!!!

The main tank in the rear area is completelly unbonded and separated. Sending photo. Eurocopter suggest to get new main tank, and since chopper is still under warranty, my main concern is what is the cause of the problem and who will pay for it.

Have you ever seen something like this. The helicopter was a long time in Malaysia on the ground, waiting for customer. Do you thing that some kind of bacteria can cause this? Do you thing Priest can destroy the tank in such a way? Except for Priest I am not aware of any other additives in fuel. And I have personally refuelled only in HEMS heliports, and good airports in Czech Republic a Switzerland, where good quality of fuel can be expected.

http://files.tocna.webnode.cz/200000...d/DSC07259.JPG

G-SPHU Birdstrike
 

I see in last Month's MORs that G-SPHU had a birdstrike which entered cabin through the chin canopy.

Anyone know more and maybe even has some gory pictures?

ILblog,

I have seen Prist eat fuel tanks before if the concentration was too high. On
different aircraft types with bladder style tanks.
(I mean way too high. I can't bring to mind the proper ratio but I want to say
something very low like .16% is good and the one case was caused by a bad
injector on a fuel truck which left globs of Prist in the tank.)

As a side note, are you not draining your sumps before the first flight of the day in order to eliminate any water from condensation etc?
I would like to put that question to the general populace on here as well. Over
the years, the number of people I have met who cannot be bothered boggles
the mind.(That does not include operations in sub-zero temperatures for those who were going to bring it up.)

Rigidhead

Weak fillet bond failure
 

IL Blog

From the photograph, there appears to be weak fillet bond failure where the core disbonds from the adhesive fillets. The adhesive fillets are formed during the initial bonding process, and they are essential for the strength of the bond. There is a conference paper on this:

Davis, M.J., Chester, R.J., Perl, D.R., Pomerleau, E., Vallerand, M., Honeycomb Bond and Core Durability Issues; Experiences within CREDP Nations, Aging Aircraft Conference, Williamsberg, VA, Aug 31-Sep 02 1998.

If you google that, there is a copy on my web site.

Essentially, the core simply separates from the adhesive layer leaving very little damage to the core or the adhesive layer. Typically once the core to adhesive bond is degraded, the flat-wise tensile strength (the strength of the core out-of-plane) falls to about 10% of original manufacture. This has been the cause of a significant number of rudder faiiures on one type of military aircraft. It is caused by water entering into the honeycomb panel itself, not just into the fuel tank, but actually penetrating the space between the inner and outer skins of the panel. This can only occur if there is a defect (such as a disbond of an edge member or a panel penetration which may have been repaired) which must occur first to enable the water to enter the core.

This type of failure should not occur if the water can be kept out of the core, so it is important to find where the water is getting in, not just to repair the part.

Regards

Blakmax

VEMD Dimming
 

When you select Instrument lighting the VEMD dimms a bit but not great lot which means you manually have to dimm it further.

How come when you enter the Maintenance pages it dimms out right proper?:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

Brilliant Stuff,

I wouldn't hold your breath on that one.

How come when you want scroll through the flight reports and other data pages you press - to advance the number and + to go back?

Transverse lobotomy = FR?

Try turning both VEMD lanes off and watch the resultant analog data in the CAD. Ng or TOT whether TM or PW. Sometimes does some weird things!

Re: need for floats, an engine fire that wont go out is an immediate landing.

It's not just that (mechanical - fire/hydraulic/mgb etc) if I were you, I would check with my insurance company also! If you do stoof overwater without floats (even though you don't legally need them) the insurance company might seriously reduce the pay out because you haven't taken appropriate steps to protect the aircraft.

I'm refreshing EC knowledge and I can't find an answer to my question:

Herr Balick (the one just under the god of EC135) :) was my instructor for ground school and I made a note on Mast Moment Indication System:

"Caution range 50-66% yellow - NO TIME LIMIT"

Why did I wrote that as we can clearly find the accumulated time for both yellow and red MM range on VEMD?

I checked what I could find in the maintenance manual - found nothing except how to take it apart - so, does yellow "caution" range represent maintenance action after certain accumulated time or not?

Nothing in the FLM supplement also... except for the red markings - entry in logbook + maintenance action.