Skids on a Sikorsky
 

I realised the other day that Sikorsky don't seem to do skids so I got curious and modified this S76 photo.

I'm no engineer so not sure if the struts are in the right places, but how do S76 drivers feel about it? Maybe it would mean less maintenance, less empty weight, less remembering, more fuel capacity.

Bell did it with the 222UT and Agusta with the A119.

https://www.uniquecarposters.com/media/S76-skids.jpg

It would make a terrible sound while taxiing. :ok:

No VIP/corporate aircraft should be on skids.

you'd cause havoc at every airport with your downwash. At least you'd not have to remember to get the gear down when it's already down.

One of the most frightening incidents of my career was the collapse of the rear cross tube on a Bell 214 ST. Luckily nobody was underneath it at the time. I have also seen 212 rear tubes break on a couple of occasions.
The 214 was a contract maintenance job, When the first 214 demonstrate aircraft came to us, Allan Bristow took one look at it and said " anyone putting an aircraft that weight on skids wants their head testing".

The struts on the landing gear also act as dampers against ground resonance.

I could never understand why the 76 has retractable gear instead of fixed gear and fairings. Flew one with the gear bolted down for weeks. We lost about 2-3 knots in cruise and that’s with gear doors blowing in the wind.

surely you lost more than that? Vne is 130 kts gear down.

Maybe that’s why the doors were blowing in the wind? :}

Priceless:):ok:

"Less remembering"????

Umm.. time to land - gear down.
Fly away - gear up.
Not that difficult.

But not impossible, as the crash comics so often illustrate.

T he fixed under carriage system was not too popular, designed for military use originally. Where would you put the floats on the skids?

Probably the same place that they go on all
other float equipped skidded helicopters, on the skids!

Bit hard to land a 76 gear up with the red "Landing Gear Up" caption front and centre and the head set tone, only heard of it being done once.

One chaps argument between the options.

https://kaypius.com/2016/08/14/wheel...kids-who-wins/

Wheels never caught on with the 412.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....28a250da1.jpeg

That was supposed to be a photo of a 412ST mods please remove, thanks.

Are there any skid equipped helicopters that can cruise at a Vne of 155 knots? I can't think of any. Run on landings at 40 knots in a 76 with skids would be interesting to say the least. As would arriving at the bottom after rejecting a vertical takeoff OEI from 50' up.

From my army days, skid undercarriages were all about landing on rough or soft ground. For every time a 76 does that it will land 100 times on a runway/tarmac and have to taxi.

Lynx Mk 7 - and it goes quite a bit faster than that:ok:

Vne or Vh?
 

The Vne for skid equipped AH-1Z Zulu Cobra is 200 kts but one does not cruise at Vne. Ott.