Bell 206 down in the Hudson

MikeD said:
I don’t think I ever saw the British or Dutch Army Apaches ever do a hovering takeoff in Afghan. Their ramp was right next to the fuel pits, and the short helo lane perpendicular to it was where they always did rolling takeoffs. In our area, there were no US Army Apaches, so I never saw their ops.
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D model was a flying Uhaul truck as far as power to weight ratio. We would roll down the Runway at Sharana in the summer until we were ~60 knots before attempting to climb out. Wasn’t really sketchy unless we had a really gusty crosswind because the narrow undercarriage and crap would be pretty delicate to hold as you got faster.
 
A long, long time ago when I worked on those flying contraptions (A-Stars/Twin stars) I do recall the pilots having to perform auto rotations onto runways during their check ride or recurrent, the only reason I remember it is because I had to replace the sacrificial material bolted to the bottom of the skids. Happily I'd convinced the owner that the supplied wheels were inefficient and an electric tug that lifted the helicopter was a better option, so I'd just lift the helicopter up in the hangar and replace those shoes, easy peasy and more money in the bank.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
If I can side track a bit, unrelated video, but had a couple questions…


@MikeD @Lawman


That horn is the low RPM warning horn, and their airspeed seems zero. The heli slices to the left and nose down. This is a high risk mast bump potential situation? Because he sliced negative Gs in that pushover?



View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/yg2sq0grv6M
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The Robbie went to the left because that’s where the pilot pushed it to. If it was just torque, the bird would’ve naturally gone to the right on a counter-clockwise main rotor (USA) such that the Robbie. Likely killed off some Nr by keeping the collective applied in order to keep some positive G loading during the return to target maneuver. So long as he didn’t try any abrupt cyclic movements, he’d be fine with the semi-rigid rotor system the Robbie has, without risking a mast bump or a tailboom strike by the main blades.. But the tolerances are tight, and a maneuver like that for no operational need, especially low altitude like that, is not worth the risk. However, the maneuver itself does have application, as crop dusting helos do similar maneuvers when reversing their run directions. Just has to be done very carefully with no abrupt control movements and not depleting the Nr too far.
 
MikeD said:
The Robbie went to the left because that’s where the pilot pushed it to. If it was just torque, the bird would’ve naturally gone to the right on a counter-clockwise main rotor (USA) such that the Robbie. Likely killed off some Nr by keeping the collective applied in order to keep some positive G loading during the return to target maneuver. So long as he didn’t try any abrupt cyclic movements, he’d be fine with the semi-rigid rotor system the Robbie has, without risking a mast bump or a tailboom strike by the main blades.. But the tolerances are tight, and a maneuver like that for no operational need, especially low altitude like that, is not worth the risk. However, the maneuver itself does have application, as crop dusting helos do similar maneuvers when reversing their run directions. Just has to be done very carefully with no abrupt control movements and not depleting the Nr too far.
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We had a saying for the Robbie: “If you see your hand move, you moved it too much”.
 
Richman said:
We had a saying for the Robbie: “If you see your hand move, you moved it too much”.
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Robbie is a fine helicopter, it just has to be flown within its tolerances and done so with some precision. Ham fisted pilots need not apply. :)
 

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Cherokee_Cruiser said:
LOL sorry, I forgot you’re a help guy too. Will tag you next time.
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I’m totally joking. Lawman is far smarter than me and Mike D. is far more prolific than I am. Between them both they will give you all the helicopter answers you need.
 
@Ian_J case in point. A couple of months ago, I randomly ran into two guys here at KDMA that I used to fly A-10s with 25+ year ago. They’re both technician reservists now, having done their active duty service committment long ago, and were in town for some exercise they were taking part in. They recognized me at the BX food court before I saw them, and after the initial surprise and hellos, we got down to catching up over lunch. They hadn’t seen me since I left the A-10 after my second tour. I told them about the 117 and then leaving to the AF reserve to go to the HH-60, which I retired from. They both get this confused look, and in a hushed tone, ask me “you went to helicopters after the stealth? Wow. So….What happened? I mean, what did you do?” As if I effed something up in my career, or crashed a plane, or pissed off some General somewhere, and that was my punishment. As if it was either that, go fly helos, or else get sent to a USAF weather station at the furthest tip of the Aleutian island chain for the rest of my life.
 
MikeD said:
@Ian_J case in point. A couple of months ago, I randomly ran into two guys here at KDMA that I used to fly A-10s with 25+ year ago. They’re both technician reservists now, having done their active duty service committment long ago, and were in town for some exercise they were taking part in. They recognized me at the BX food court before I saw them, and after the initial surprise and hellos, we got down to catching up over lunch. They hadn’t seen me since I left the A-10 after my second tour. I told them about the 117 and then leaving to the AF reserve to go to the HH-60, which I retired from. They both get this confused look, and in a hushed tone, ask me “you went to helicopters after the stealth? Wow. So….What happened? I mean, what did you do?” As if I effed something up in my career, or crashed a plane, or pissed off some General somewhere, and that was my punishment. As if it was either that, go fly helos, or else get sent to a USAF weather station at the furthest tip of the Aleutian island chain for the rest of my life.
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Meh, at least you didn’t start flying the 737, now that’s hitting rock bottom!
🙂

But seriously, though, I think it was a good move to add a rotorcraft category on your pilot certificate.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
@MikeD @Lawman @Ian_J

Alright what went wrong here? :). Looks like he did a loop-de-loop, caught a skid into the ground, and mast bump with the grass? Pilot in the red jumpsuit ejected in that crash sequence, poor guy :)




View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/FYdvKScGnnA
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I am fully aware this is a complete joke and that the question and video are all in fun. However, just to make it painfully clear, mast bumping is a characteristic of a semi rigid, teeter totter rotor system. What one might find on something like a bell 206. This really expensive and completely awesome replication of an MD 500 had a fully articulated system and would not be susceptible to Mast bumping.

#nerdmomentover

Also, thanks for tagging me… over 20 years of helicopter flying and a frickin airforce guy gets all the rotor questions… 🤓
 
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