-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
Why Part 121 Helo Airlines Never Happened
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
Interesting video. There is on and off discussions of a similar service out of DCA to outlying areas.
It is interesting that a crash killing five people would end Part 121 helo operations but the Air Florida crash (or others) don’t put a dent in fixed wing operations.
It is interesting that a crash killing five people would end Part 121 helo operations but the Air Florida crash (or others) don’t put a dent in fixed wing operations.
GroundPounder
Well-Known Member
The video said that the crash and fuel prices ended New York Airways. It mentioned the others were ended after “a series of fatal crashes”
I’ve always said. There’s a reason H-60 pilots don’t love their airframe the same way a Phrog guy does. It comes down to the simple fact that it’s an extremely reliable platform. I can count on one hand the amount of issues I had flying it over 1400 hours. None of them were largely concerning, one of them was a PEL for a hyd pump. The Phrog guys I talk to all seem to have stories about how she “got them home.” You couldn’t pay me to fly that thing on the regular. Now, and updated one? Maybe.
Eh, H-60s, especially the real Seahawk variants, are super reliable and actually difficult to cause exceedances in compared to similar platforms. I love it. Every foreign pilot I've taken up in a 60 loves it. Our gadgetry might be out of date, but the platform is robust. It seems to me phrog guys mostly lament the loss of a tandem-rotor bird that you could sling around with little concern for sideward speed. I'm sure it was fun.
Put a Sierra pilot in a Romeo for VERTREP patterns and tell him he's limited to 35 kn sideward; his disappointment will be so great, you'll actually hear a sad trombone over ICS.
Also, times change and communities change. We have more rules and a different culture now. Senior HS bubbas would never shutup about the H-3 being God's chariot (and I tell JOs every day how the 60F & H were better than the R & S).
I think the fact that the 60 is so reliable and easy to use is what makes it so vanilla. I've always joked that the 60 is the Camry of helicopters. It's safe, reliable, easy to fly, easy to work on, and limited drama. If you as an individual were in the market for a "medium lift helicopter for your family" you'd probably buy a 60 for the same reasons so many people end up with accords and camries (is that the correct plural of camry?).
But the 60 experience isn't the same as that of a Phrog or a 46. Those guys loved their platforms because they ended up pouring so much sweat, blood, and tears in to them over having to work to fly them, weekend FCFs, and EPs. Flying a Phrog or a 53 has a lot more drama and a whole lot more "on a wing and a prayer."
If the 60 is a Camry then a 46 or 53 is the beater car you had in HS that you put tons of work in to. Sure the Red Dragon leaked and the gas gauge didn't work and every other weekend you were under the hood but it was loud as hell and mde you earn it. No matter how reliable a Camry might be it will never be as sexy as the Red Dragon.
The Navy H-46 was a dangerous high drama machine during most of its service life - it tried to kill me twice in over 1,300 hours of flying the thing. The depot maintenance system and lack of investment was largely to blame. HC had a "we don't matter" ethos - self demeaning and an unwillingness to ask for anything that would garner attention even in the face of multiple Class A mishaps The fact that the airframe performed as it did is testament to Boeing, GE and the OEM's. Naval Aviation Depots in Cherry Point, Pensacola, and the whole AIMD system in the 70-90's were a sea of poor quality - both workforce and technology.
The Marines did wonders with the Phrog and the 46E's at retirement were at their best in terms of capability and material condition than at anytime in their life cycle.
I'm envious of the Sierra crews - I would love to fly one at some point.
The Marines did wonders with the Phrog and the 46E's at retirement were at their best in terms of capability and material condition than at anytime in their life cycle.
I'm envious of the Sierra crews - I would love to fly one at some point.
I'll see your Shamu and raise you a Partridge Family.
So new total time is in the single digits. It ain't even got a paint job yet!