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Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

ea6bflyr said:
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Anyone buy a helicopter recently? I didn’t realize how easy they are to transport. Spotted on I-5 South in Northern California.
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Most of them weight 2-5k tops in that size category so easily transportable with a good goose neck and a heavy duty truck.

Bigger medium category fleet aircraft (64/60/H1s/etc) are still ground transportable but you’ll need a HET type trailer to road haul them mostly due to weight distribution vs road wear category so it’s basically just your average wide load truck.

Bigger than that it’s probably cheaper and easier to just fix them and fly them. Ain’t nothing easily road transporting a 53 or 47 without pissing off a lot of people in the process.
 
At least a decade ago I was driving down some highway (I-10 maybe?) and saw a SA-330 on a trailer. Except it was "highly modified." I'm assuming it was this girl (or another one made for the same reasons).

-jrX_ElMJH5uIwnpfsOj1od7_T7b0DTmG8yjzxpYWoY.jpg


I actually couldn't tell if it was airworthy or just a prop, but kind of cool to see.
 
Gatordev said:
At least a decade ago I was driving down some highway (I-10 maybe?) and saw a SA-330 on a trailer. Except it was "highly modified." I'm assuming it was this girl (or another one made for the same reasons).

-jrX_ElMJH5uIwnpfsOj1od7_T7b0DTmG8yjzxpYWoY.jpg


I actually couldn't tell if it was airworthy or just a prop, but kind of cool to see.
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For a brief time the army used highly modified/decorated S-55 (H-19) helicopters at NTC to replicate Soviet Hind helicopters. They were replaced by UH-1’s and I think, in turn, the UH-1’s have been replaced by Lakota’s.

IMG_2035.jpeg

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The Hind has a very unique sound as it approaches and flies past.
One day in '98 while on the flight line in Tuzla BH, we heard that sound as it popped up over a small ridge into what looked like an attack position. We immediately dove into a ravine next to the ramp, looked up and saw...
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... followed by laughter from a German aircrew. Not a good day for the home team.
 
ChuckMK23 said:
I remember seeing Mi-24 and Mi-8 at Crestview/Bob Sikes in 1994-5 ish ..
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I've never seen a Mi-24 in FL, but Mi-8s have been pretty common before the end of GWOT. I've lost track if the AF has divested themselves of flying them out of Hurlburt, but I got to climb around in one one night at Florala while I was broken down there.

It also used to be very common to see them flying around Jacksonville, thanks to a little place farther down the river. But I haven't seen one in a long time.
 
Gatordev said:
I've never seen a Mi-24 in FL, but Mi-8s have been pretty common before the end of GWOT. I've lost track if the AF has divested themselves of flying them out of Hurlburt, but I got to climb around in one one night at Florala while I was broken down there.
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That was the 6th SOS out of Hurlburt and these have been divested. That mission has been replaced with FMS sales of Cessna 208 Caravans (helping fledgling air forces get a start/capability). My current boss was an Air Commando advising on this platform. But the AF is mostly out of the Soviet aircraft game.
 
Gatordev said:
I've never seen a Mi-24 in FL, but Mi-8s have been pretty common before the end of GWOT. I've lost track if the AF has divested themselves of flying them out of Hurlburt, but I got to climb around in one one night at Florala while I was broken down there.

It also used to be very common to see them flying around Jacksonville, thanks to a little place farther down the river. But I haven't seen one in a long time.
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The reduced part inventory caused by the current conflict basically killed the readiness rates of all the old Mil series aircraft.

What is left is out there but it got real small real fast.
 
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