Here's Something You Don't See On The Beach Everyday

[A Life Aloft]

"A large Marine helicopter made an emergency landing on a Southern California beach Wednesday after an apparent oil leak, authorities said.

There were no injuries when the heavy-lift CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter made the landing on Solana Beach near San Diego at around 11:40 a.m., the military said.

The helicopter, part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, landed on the beach after a low oil-pressure indicator activated in the cockpit, the Marine Corps said in a statement.

Hazardous material teams were sent to the beach to make sure no oil contaminated the sands of Solana Beach, located in a seaside community of about 13,000 people about 20 miles northwest of downtown San Diego.

"The aircraft was conducting a routine flight, and the pilots landed the aircraft safely," a statement from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar said.

The entire rear section of the aircraft was streaked with what appeared to be oil. The Marines did not say where the helicopter was headed. It was expected to return to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego Wednesday.

The Super Stallion is the heaviest and most powerful helicopter used by the military, according to its manufacturer, Sikorsky. It is used to transport heavy equipment."

Marine mechanics were able to get the aircraft, assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, sufficiently patched up for it to be flown off the beach about 3:30 p.m. The pilots flew the aircraft to the west parking lot of the Del Mar Fairgrounds for further evaluation.

The CH-53, a heavy lift copter, is known to be flown out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Camp Pendleton. It is the largest and heaviest helicopter used by the United States military. The two-pilot helicopter can hold up to 37 troops while in flight.

Lifeguards and firefighters assisted military crews with shoveling oil off the beach and into yellow buckets.

More pics:

https://twitter.com/MCASMiramarCA/media

 

[PositionAndHold]

An oil leak? I think they what meant to say was "the oil leak/s that are normally present got waaaay worse, then stopped".

 

[A Life Aloft]

I've never seen one of these birds in person. Big ass engines. Does anyone know what's in the pods on either side? @MikeD

 

[Old Dominion Flyer]

Does anyone know what's in the pods on either side?

Those pods look like fuel tanks, so I'm going with fuel. Haha

 

[fholbert]

Very unusual. Most forced landings by Navy crew are further south at Black's Beach.

 

[woodreau]

Those are external fuel tanks.

Big engines? There are 3 of them.

They can be inflight refueled by a VMGR C-130 bird.

 

[BravoHotel]

I've never seen one of these birds in person. Big ass engines. Does anyone know what's in the pods on either side? @MikeD

Fuel.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Fuel.

Thanks, I seriously know bupkis about helicopters and what little I do know I've learned from Mike or tried to research online.

 

[MikeD]

I'd have loved to have seen the sandstorm from the downwash of that thing landing on the beach.

 

[USMCmech]

I've never seen one of these birds in person. Big ass engines. Does anyone know what's in the pods on either side? @MikeD

3000 SHP each

I think that you are refering to the drop tanks on either side of the fuselage.

 

[USMCmech]

Given the massive oil leak on the rear of the helo I'm going to guess that it was more than simple drip. It looks like a massive leak from the oil cooler.

 

[Roger Roger]

apparent oil leak

Yes I would say the oil leak is apparent.

 

[A Life Aloft]

3000 SHP each

I think that you are refering to the drop tanks on either side of the fuselage.

Thanks. I finally found this on line, in trying to research this machine a bit.

"Self-sealing bladder fuel tanks, each of 1,192l capacity, are installed in the forward sections of the sponsons. An internal two-cell fuel tank provides 1,465l of fuel. Drop tanks, with total capacity 4,921l, can also be installed externally to each sponson. For extended range operations the helicopter can be fitted with seven additional tanks providing an additional 7,949l of fuel."

Like I said, I had no idea of all the different fuel tanks (internal and external) that are available on this chopper. I am impressed about the part where it states that 7 additional tanks can be added on to her. As far as helicopters, wth do I know? Not much, but I am trying to learn more.

Given the massive oil leak on the rear of the helo I'm going to guess that it was more than simple drip. It looks like a massive leak from the oil cooler.

From the link of the twitter pics at the bottom of the article, when you click on the photos to enlarge them, the leak/blow-by seems pretty severe to me. Looks like the Fire Department is using a number of those absorbent booms.

 

[woodreau]

I'd have loved to have seen the sandstorm from the downwash of that thing landing on the beach.

I made a mistake one day standing in a field of pebbles / rocks at CalSite 25/35(?) off Las Pulgas in Camp Pendleton when one of those 53s flew overhead coming in to pick up an external load.

The rotorwash picked up every single rock in that field and flung it around, and I felt like my entire body was hit with a shotgun blast of rocks.

What I'd like to know is where it got the name "pooper" from, except it was the profanity version that's blanked by the profanity filter. We had a squadron of Harriers, Cobras, Hueys, Frogs and Sh----tters on our ship.

We had one of those -53's go down and make an emergency landing on a beach in Singapore, same thing catastrophic oil leak like the Solana Beach incident, except they - the flight crew - didn't tell us they killed a foreign national during the emergency landing. So the first time we hear about the dead foreign national, was on the CNN satellite feed playing in the wierdroom and flag plot. It caused a ruckus on the ship, because normally the way it works in situations like this is we shoot an OPREP 3 PINNACLE message up the chain as opposed to a normal plain vanilla SITREP for a downed helo so that the Dept of State can get involved. And in this case, the State Dept first heard about it on CNN too and were asking us WTF kind of circus operation were we running out there...

 

[killbilly]

I knew a crew chief on one of those things. He said they're surprisingly maneuverable for their size.

 

[etflies]

@dasleben your surfboard collection is getting a little out of hand.

 

[USMCmech]

Yes I would say the oil leak is apparent.

The thing about that is that even a small amount of oil will spread out over the fuselage and give the appearance of a huge leak. What looks like a massive leak of gallons of oil may in fact only be a quart or two.

What I'd like to know is where it got the name "pooper" from, except it was the profanity version that's blanked by the profanity filter. We had a squadron of Harriers, Cobras, Hueys, Frogs and Sh----tters on our ship.

The brown grease from the swashplate and head typically gets flung out and covers the the rear half of the fuselage making it look like a diaper blow out. Ergo: Supper Stallion = Supper Sh---tter

I knew a crew chief on one of those things. He said they're surprisingly maneuverable for their size.

It will do a loop and a roll if flown carefully. The hazard is that when pulling full aft cyclic the blades could possibly hit the tail boom. The Sikorsky test pilots will do it when leaving the factory, but it was forbidden for Navy or Marine crews to try it.

 

[pianokeys]

I'd have loved to have seen the sandstorm from the downwash of that thing landing on the beach.

Your wish has been granted.

 

[A Life Aloft]

Here's one when she was able to be flown again.

 

[mrivc211]

3000 SHP each

I think that you are refering to the drop tanks on either side of the fuselage.

You said Shaft