Raft
 

This will never happen unless made mandatory by CAD & AACM together.

( Outwest ) let me reconfirm soon,
If it was less fuel or less Pax during summer months.

Does anyone here know the (added weight) of the AW139 raft kit. ???

Really? The 139 has a payload problem on a 15 minute flight?

As per Andrew Tse comment, thought had been given in the past to carrying liferaft on these flights, but they chose not to. Payloads would have been reduced in summer if carrying LR on S76C+, but not sure if the same economic argument can be made with AW139. There is no mandatory requirement under many jurisdictions to carry liferafts in a Class 1 performance helicopter operating over water <100nm from land, or even the wearing of lifejackets for that matter. Some passengers had trouble even finding their lifejackets let alone putting them on, the prospect of them being able to assist the crew in launching a liferaft is remote. Unless of course an automatically deployable liferaft system was installed.

I would be surprised if they changed what they've being doing up to this point, i.e. stowed lifejackets under seats and no liferaft. A better "wearable" (but stowed) type lifejacket might be a more practical option, as opposed to one in a pouch. There is so much marine traffic on that route that sea rescue would never be far away, and all of those fast ferries have thermal imaging cameras that should assist in detecting survivors in the water.

No doubt they will take a look at all these aspects again in light of what happened.

I'd be interested whether the SkyShuttle pilots practice loss of tail rotor components in the sim, or just loss of tail rotor thrust, and whether the sim experience of this was similar to what the pilot found during the event.

Alfa Track = 15-16 min, Bravo Track = 16-17 min, Charlie Track = 17-19 min.

They carry fuel for a round trip (not one leg) as no fuel is available at the HK pad, Plus 14 min of waiting in HK pax.

Their saving grace is, they mainly fly Chinese men and woman that are 50lbs lighter than a Western, so a full load of 12 is (usually) OK. :ok::ok:
but add a raft kit and do the math someone.

Just to clarify, they refuel in Macau, fly to Hong Kong, wait at idle, fly back to Macau and refuel. So they are operating for about an hour between refuelling, and they carry IFR reserve fuel much of the time. But yes, I wonder if the 139 would need be at a reduced payload in summer with a liferaft.

TBD, you beat me to the punch by 1 minute :D

Sorry gullibell,,, but where both on the same page at least :ok:

...and I'm still very surprised that in the CCTV/webcam/phonecam capital of the universe that no video capture of the whole event has been posted to YouTube or elsewhere yet, or none that I know of....there would be a video record of it from several angles for sure.

...and I'm also surprised that every local with a pair of swimming goggles and flippers who'd be out there searching for those half dozen or so Louis Vuitton handbags on the bottom of the harbour hasn't come across a tail rotor and gearbox yet :}

The Shun Tak Helipad area at a guess, would have over 10 cameras and Shun Tak Towers have roof / weather cams, not to mention IFC & IFC 2, as they make the HK Money in that place, has hundreds of hi tech cameras all over it.

Maybe they already have it, locked away !!!

Ah, a conspiracy theory, now that would be a 1st for Hong Kong :eek:

If they're sticking to the bird theory then it's probably not in their interest to find the smoking gun :oh:

Mmmmm ...

Liferafts on the 139 are deployable from the pilot stations (one raft can be deployed by either pilot but not both rafts by the same pilot) ... they can also be deployed by passengers by reaching for a deploy handle located at the forward edge of each sponson.


;)

Only ever seen one 139 in my life, but it had life rafts directly below the main cabin doors, between the pax step and the fuselage. Comment was made that when pax are boarding they tend to kick the life raft cover. No idea on weight penalty.

Strange 139 you saw then!!

S

Life Raft Kit Weight
 

The life raft kit weight is 202 lbs. or 93 kg., take your pick.

W139 Windshield cracked
 

Flight Safety Australia : July-August 2010, Page 38
See photo top right hand corner.

Interesting developments for young machines ! :ouch:

Thanks Gittijan

Filthymutt get your calculator out :)

I would have thought the well-heeled type of customer using that shuttle would much prefer to step out into a sponson-mounted liferaft than flounder in the water (with or without a lifejacket). If payload is an issue, make 11 pax pay the same as the 12 pax did.

The safety briefings 'In the unlikely event of...' might be listened to a little more closely for a while anyway.

Helmets anyone?
 

All,

I was wondering if any of the Sky Shuttle pilots wear helmets as a matter of course?

Highly topical down this way as presumably the newer aircraft are meant to be less likely to ditch. Hmmm...

P68:O

Life Raft Kit
 

Black Dragon,
No that is for 2 life rafts, sponson mounted. The kit is only approved for both.

P68
NO helmets, & No life vests worn, mainly due to the high summer temps and corporate nature of the job... has a much better Air-con than the 76 though.:ok: