:D Great thread still! Always great to see any 500.

jim63
"Got a question though,why is the helicopter in the pic above running without blades?http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...s/confused.gif Is there a reason for doing that?"

Suggest Head \ tail balance note wires to transducers out of cab & wrapped around boom.
Sorry for delay:zzz:

Hughes500

Apologies to Pitch Link for butting in, but that's Bailiffscourt Hotel Climping Street Climping, Arundel, West Sussex BN17 5RW, United Kingdom. Did my commercial flight tests with Capt Steel in the early 90's when GLIBS was in those colours.

Tidbit of info on SCSO's 500
 

I have been told that the Snohomish County Sheriff's office helicopter pictured above (posts 203 & 213) was in fact one of the ones the CIA used in South East Asia. It had been modified to be quieter for operations behind enemy lines. I was told this by the Sargent in charge of the Aviation division. Its primary use now is for Search and Rescue.Its radio call sign is Sno-Hawk 1.
Sno-Hawk1 was also heavily worked on after an emergency hard landing in
2002, during a training flight. One of the skids collapsed upon impact and the bird rolled over.

They also use a Huey UH-1H (Sno-Hawk 2) with a hoist that was totally rebuilt last year.

OH6A Little Bird
 

Thought you might like this picture taken a couple of weeks ago for some promo leaflets. It'sof the stable mate of Huey 509. The OH is now up and running and so may well be seen on the air show circuit this year.

H1HU
http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/attachment...1&d=1328539942

With respect to the posts 203, 213, and 247, this article explains it all very well...

Air America's Black Helicopter | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine

I did testing of a variant of the door design;

http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/o...g/IMG_1287.jpg

Rare pic....
 

Interesting photo of a "Stretcher Kit" equipped 500.
Pic by McDonnell Douglas.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/...tos/500-LK.jpg

I think only a handful of that "Air Ambulance" version were ever built. The Riverside PD in the USA have a D-model with the same modification but seem to fly it in standard configuration. I think the 240-Robert-style bubble rear doors might have been more popular when it came to lifting stretcher cases.

Here is a recent video of "The Quiet One". C-model airframe with a five-blade main head and a four-blade tail rotor. The ultimate Y-tailed 500!


500 Fan.

N0196C history
 

Reply:

I worked for Stephen Good in his F1 exhaust manufacturing company in the UK so was familiar with his helicopter (N1096C) and what happened to it. I subsequently became a commercial helicopter pilot.

It was resprayed in McLaren West F1 colours in late 1998 or early 1999.

It was involved in several speed/distance records on his round the world challenge with Mike Smith.

Stephen Good crashed in Germany on the 7th November 1999 and both himself and his passenger were killed. It was a VFR flight that ended up VFR on top and in the process of trying to break through cloud, entered an unusual attitude and collided with the ground.

VFR on top....Yikes :eek: have I done it? Yep I have, it's a kinda difficult to avoid in eXtreme mountain flying without spending half the year on-ground sipping black masala tea, but did it ONLY when I've confirmed a big blue sky hole to let down through by Crew onsite observing same & relaying that info to me :ooh:
Did I enjoy it? No bloody way :uhoh: Would I do it again? Naaar, been there done that. don't need to do it again (anymore) :}


On a happier note: the 500's are the Sexiest machine every made.....but getting 'em serviced is getting a lot tougher, certainly downunder

Any thoughts on the 600 would be much appreciated? Thanks in advance

Hi VF,

5 minutes in a 6 above 7000' would have you convinced not to ever get in one again!

We had the 2nd one in service.

Where to start? I had a lot of time on the tools and cut my teeth on 5's from early C18 ships through to D's. The 6 is something else entirely.

In the first year we changed -

1/ Undercarriage - wasn't up to the arrival speed at the ground in auto above a DA of about 3500' from fast depleting memory.

2/ OR clutch housing due to improvement. You cant take the engine out of a 6 like a 5. The little inbuilt hook for the block and tackle is not an option. Serious crane special tool needed.

3/ Changed all the TOT and Q gauge arrangement as the original supplier went out of business. Was a serious upgrade and Boeing actually did it for us.

4/ In the beginning, the MRH bearings had a 300 hour life.

5/ Swashplate link changed as the offset was out of whack originally.

6/ Notar fan shroud - they are now improved but used to go rotten due to holding water in the bottom part of the abradable coating. Fix was to add drain holes and paint them.

7/ Extensive EMI testing of the FADEC.

8/ Fuel system has a few pitfalls - you can incorrectly install the main pick up and motive fuel lines as the connections are the same size. It has consequences. The baffle arrangement and check valves in the tank need attention.
Ours had the motive fuel line installed incorrectly and it was holding the baffle down which was interesting. The motive fuel pumps fuel aft of the baffle. If the baffle isn't working you end up feeling like an EC135 pilot with low fuel light yet plenty on the gauge. It is a LOW FUEL situation. Understanding of the system helps - slow down and it will run back through the check valves to where it can be picked up. I was 20 miles offshore at the time!!

Flying characteristics -

In the beginning, they had a cap on the end of the thruster can and the wake separation point would swap from side to side and you would constantly be out of balance. As you corrected the out of balance it would pop out the other
way. Thet removed the cap and threw it away in the end.

6 of the old blades with the original profile dont make for an efficient rotor - too much parasite drag as the A of A is not ideal.

Auto's like a brick and you really need better than average skills. Youtube is your friend. Take aim between your toes and you need about 80 knots. The autorotative driving area is blanketed by the cab.

And the old Notar Catch 22 - you need to lead with right pedal in the pitch pull on touch down as the "anti-torque" uses Coanda from the rotor downwash just when you don't actually need or want it. If you are not aware of the phenomena it will turn left on you and as the Nr is rapidly decaying you will possibly touch down travelling sideways. Not pretty.

There is quite a bit of feedback through the collective. Especially up high. You felt like you were hanging on by your fingernails and had to really concentrate to get any performance out of it.

We gave it away in the end and I think it is still flying. Was glad to see the end of it and moved on - nothing to see here. After we sold it the AD came out on the tail boom attachments and yes one of them was cracked!

The only upside was that the C47 is a fairly good engine (everything a C30 isn't) and the MGB is a good option for a retro by a D/E operator. That would be about the only value in one. There is a reason that they dont sell.

To me it was an exercise in how not to build a helicopter. If it was the only one you had flown and did not know any better it is possibly better than walking but hey.............still a tur&.

On another point, as you are possibly one of the elite really high altitude operators out there get yourself in a BK117-D2 (H145) for a look see. Now that is a high altitude rocket ship. Certified to T/O and Land up to 20K!

Rant over!

G'day RVDT...awesome info & rant Mate, many thanks. I didn't wanna operate above 6,000' for landings :D But also didn't realise the extent of the flying lemon she is :ugh:

Thank You....cheers

Our neighbours at KSA had a 600 to transport Japanese tourists to the Blue Mountains and return.

The yaw jitters described above caused a lot of the pax to re-visit breakfast and/or the BBQ steak lunch.

A lot of those Helimax 520's ended up in NZ!

Mine have low skids, yes have to be more careful landing ( done thousands on very rough terrain) BUT much much easier to get into the machine ! as one gets a bit older