That sounds like the sensible SAR plan for SPIFR that I remember and it worked very well. But if the operation was VFR and the plan involved flying long distances over water at night then possibly not. NVG is a great aid for getting you to the deck but not for the winching itself. Auto-hover is a great aid during winching but it is normally over-ridden and flown manually. Add a second pilot, IFR, NVG, auto-hover and LOTS of training and you are getting close.
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It seems it came as a surprise to them when they hit the water. Fortunately it floated for a period which assisted their extraction from the cabin. So that probably discounts a mechanical problem with the helicopter.
Does the BK have immersion switches for automatically popping the floats on water contact? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12224813 |
The Pilot is still in hospital but due out soon once his 2 black eyes have opened. The rear crew are fine...ish:ouch:
On a side note, this is a team effort so monitoring the pilot at the critical approach phase is paramount |
Originally Posted by rottenjohn
(Post 10454265)
Did it have floats? |
Originally Posted by gulliBell
(Post 10454263)
It seems it came as a surprise to them when they hit the water. Fortunately it floated for a period which assisted their extraction from the cabin. So that probably discounts a mechanical problem with the helicopter.
Does the BK have immersion switches for automatically popping the floats on water contact? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12224813 You seem to be stirring the pot. You know the answers to all your questions I suspect.... As usual the industry is quick to stick the knife in. Glad they are all safe at home to tell the story. They are still building Helicopters! |
Originally Posted by rottenjohn
(Post 10454210)
Hard to understand what sort of medevac it was to be a “private” operation. If there’d been any urgency surely they would have used the contracted provider who are an IFR operation. So private as in privately and not public funded but definitely not private as in non commercial. Be it quite a wee stretch south of the mainland this is part of these guys back yard pretty much. |
Originally Posted by gulliBell
(Post 10453789)
Would a BK117 be an odd choice of aircraft employed in the role of single pilot IFR over water winching at night?
In some areas the coverage is a Squirrel, which I suspect would still be a very welcome site should you need a ride to the nearest hospital. |
As usual the industry is quick to stick the knife in. |
Budget the Little Helicopter - a story
Fishing Vessel "Southern Ocean Rape" - "Hi helicopter company we have a minor injury to a crewman, can you come and get them so that we can carry on clearing the ocean of these troublesome fush - we don't want to call the Rescue Coordination Centre because of the paperwork and Worksafe investigation"
Helicopter company - "no problem - but we are all flying BKs in NZ now because of the new ambulance contract so you will have to pay double for that - but don't worry its a BK so we don't need top cover so it will work out about the same cost as two Squirrels" Fishing vessel - "sweet as" Pilot - "hey we have a new BK - according to the flight manual fuel consumption figures we should be just OK to get there - but lets sling a few jerrys in the back in case we have to land short" Crewman - "sweet as" A few hours later.......... Pilot - bit more of a "headwind than I thought" Paramedic - "its gone awfully quiet in the back" Splash All - "good job aircraft with empty fuel tanks float for a bit" |
Your astute observations lead me to suspect you might be barbados sky in disguise as somebody else.
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wot? 2 engines and no fuel? really?
see Cultha thread and Category A Takeoff thread |
I would find that difficult to believe. Twin engine helicopters don't usually do fuel exhaustion simultaneously on both engines. Normally one engine will run out of fuel a few minutes before the other one. In which case, when the first engine went quiet a radio call would go out pronto. Not-withstanding a radio call should have already gone out when it was realized the required fuel to destination was more than the actual fuel on-board. There was no such radio call in this instance, as far as we know.
And if you really screw up your fuel planning and don't have enough fuel to get to your destination, and you're over hostile terrain, I should think the M/E pilot would choose to shut down one engine and leave all the fuel for the other engine to maximize range and get you as close as possible to a suitable landing site. |
Originally Posted by AnFI
(Post 10455106)
wot? 2 engines and no fuel? really?
see Cultha thread and Category A Takeoff thread |
Originally Posted by Evil Twin
(Post 10455280)
Are you going to bring this cr8p to every thread?
|
Originally Posted by AnFI
(Post 10455106)
wot? 2 engines and no fuel? really?
see Cultha thread and Category A Takeoff thread Running out of fuel can happen to singles as well. Probably 1000's of forced landings/crashes over the years due to it, but maybe not as spectacular as In 2003 there was a very similar thing happening in the south Atlantic. That involved a single engine that also almost made it to destination, even flown by an gods-gift-to-aviation superduper-pilot, that since have had another very interesting thread on this forum also involving a single engine in the water. Although I know what brought down the last one, lets not cloud the story with facts.... just to follow your way of discussing. Why don't you just create your own single vs twin thread or better yet, reply to one of the still current threads that is open on the topic?! https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/26...ht=single+twin https://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/43...gle-isn-t.html Chop, You'd be delighted to know, that your wish for a single engine version of the BK117 is slowly but surely on the way, but with a different name and made in Switzerland... Was supposed to kill off the AS350/H125, highly unlikely to happen anytime soon unless Jesus himself intervenes and does some magic to the b.e.w. But it will sure as hell have longer legs than the BK without aux-tanks, but then again, the R44 on the way to the Antarctic was claimed to have had an engine FAILURE and not run out of gas (although there was no record of a proper aux-tank fitted for the flight and the distance is quite much more than the 44's range), so then the extra fuel is just extra weight and will make the rests burn a little bit longer unless you ditch... |
Chopjock
Anfi has a valid point. If there was a single engined variant of a BK117 then presumably it would likely have better endurance... |
Ah, some editing to preserve anonymity after a complaint I presume:)
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Gulli.....please to recall the Wessex (two engined version) routinely cruised on one engine with other one shutdown....as a normal procedure.
That completely corrupts AnFi's thesis about un-needed weight and complexity. When done that way it was a Twin Engined helicopter flown as a single......or perhaps a Single engine helicopter flown as a Twin depending upon how you wish to look at it. |
The entire EMS industry may not be keen to see you ask that question, rottenjohn. (Granted, there are a few parts of the world where heliborne EMS is a godsend ... got a friend in Washington State whose second career was in that line of work)
Glad they all walked away from this one. (Or swam away?) |
Originally Posted by rottenjohn
(Post 10456016)
Be good to know the actual degree of urgency to get the patient. Haven’t really heard anything about that |
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