flyerstud4
Registered User
yes.
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Top 10 Worst Aircraft Ever...
- Thread starter Mumbles
- Start date
yes.
Perhaps you should spend some time in rotary wing then.....
Still experimental, but I'm surprised nobody thought of this first:
FROM THE WEBSITE:
One of the most unusual aircraft ever to fly from Lakehurst was the Piasecki PA-97 Heli-stat.
The Heli-stat had been built under a 1980 U.S. Navy contract for the Forest Service to demonstrate economic & ecological potential of heavy vertical air lifters in harvesting timber & other natural resources in difficult-to-get-to terrain. The demonstration vehicle utilized a Navy ZPG-2W aerostat (with a 1-million cubic-foot envelope) and 4 surplus Sikorsky H-34J helicopters.
Inflating the aerostat envelope with helium to its length of 343 feet
made the Heli-Stat the largest aircraft in the world (longer than the span of the Hughes flying boat).
The first free hovering flight of the Piasecki PA-97 Heli-stat was made at Lakehurst on April 26, 1986.
On July 1, 1986 the Helistat had just completed a test flight successfully & landed at Lakehurst.
A power loss was noted on the #3 helicopter & the test was terminated & the mooring mast called for.
Prior to re-mooring a wind shift caused an uncommanded left turn which the pilot could not counteract with the flight controls.
With a tailwind, no wheel brakes or ground steering a takeoff was attempted.
The 4 main landing gear which had no shimmy dampers started to shimmy.
The 4 helicopters started to react to the shimmy with ground resonance.
As the Helistat finally lifted off, the 4 individual helicopters broke off & fell to the ground.
One pilot was killed, 3 received serious injuries, one received minor injuries. and the Helistat was destroyed.
The power loss on the #3 helicopter was traced to a missing throttle linkage correlation pin.
Saw the Helistat crash on "Destroyed in Seconds" show on Discovery. When I saw the clip, all I could think was WTF? And those guys call themselves ENGINEERS?
Here's the Google clip: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=2668113119001888697
-ea6bflyr
What was that? Was he showing off that he finally got up to 250 KIAS? Wow...Everyone look. Jeez. Can I get my 12 seconds back.
-ea6bflyr
Redux
Well-Known Member
Saw the Helistat crash on "Destroyed in Seconds" show on Discovery. When I saw the clip, all I could think was WTF? And those guys call themselves ENGINEERS?
Here's the Google clip: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=2668113119001888697
-ea6bflyr
Wow, what a piece of shitski, wasn't that long agao and I never heard of it.
Flying a plane to depot or the boneyard can be lost of fun. G limits? We don't need no stinkin' G limits!
Still experimental, but I'm surprised nobody thought of this first:
FROM THE WEBSITE:
One of the most unusual aircraft ever to fly from Lakehurst was the Piasecki PA-97 Heli-stat.
The Heli-stat had been built under a 1980 U.S. Navy contract for the Forest Service to demonstrate economic & ecological potential of heavy vertical air lifters in harvesting timber & other natural resources in difficult-to-get-to terrain. The demonstration vehicle utilized a Navy ZPG-2W aerostat (with a 1-million cubic-foot envelope) and 4 surplus Sikorsky H-34J helicopters.
Inflating the aerostat envelope with helium to its length of 343 feet
made the Heli-Stat the largest aircraft in the world (longer than the span of the Hughes flying boat).
The first free hovering flight of the Piasecki PA-97 Heli-stat was made at Lakehurst on April 26, 1986.
On July 1, 1986 the Helistat had just completed a test flight successfully & landed at Lakehurst.
A power loss was noted on the #3 helicopter & the test was terminated & the mooring mast called for.
Prior to re-mooring a wind shift caused an uncommanded left turn which the pilot could not counteract with the flight controls.
With a tailwind, no wheel brakes or ground steering a takeoff was attempted.
The 4 main landing gear which had no shimmy dampers started to shimmy.
The 4 helicopters started to react to the shimmy with ground resonance.
As the Helistat finally lifted off, the 4 individual helicopters broke off & fell to the ground.
One pilot was killed, 3 received serious injuries, one received minor injuries. and the Helistat was destroyed.
The power loss on the #3 helicopter was traced to a missing throttle linkage correlation pin.
What a cluster-&@#& that was. Ret Navy test pilot Mike Stock who flew the front right Sikorsky on that when it crashed taught me everything I know as my flight instructor in college. (Same guy that is helping me apply for a pilot slot too!) He said the crash could have been avoided had it had shimmy dampeners. The thing basically vibrated apart. It was made out of irrigation piping and required 4 pilots just to taxi; it was only a matter of time before something else caused it to crash. He asked an engineering friend before he started on the project if it looked like a good idea. His engineering buddy took one glance at the blueprints and said get out while you can. Significant hazard pay and curiosity won him over in the end. He lost his best friend and still recalls it as the only day he did not thoroughly enjoy Naval Aviation during his 30 year career.
^ I can still remember watching an episode of "Nova" on PBS as an 8 year old kid, seeing this thing crash and thinking how stupid it looked.