AIRMMCPORET
Plan “A/B” Retired
Nice photo bomb Chuck.
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Huntington Beach Helicopter Crash
- Thread starter PhrogPhlyer
- Start date
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
I was reading this thread, then saw the picture and was thinking this looks like the helicopter in Airwolf, then I got down to your post LOL.
Fun history fact…
The actual AirWolf 222 was purchased and turned into an air ambulance where it sadly crashed.
But only after the aircraft started spinning. I'm thinking the issue may have been upstream, even if only a little bit.
What Chuck keeps getting at is the orientation of the collective "handle." Typically the grip portion of a collective (thing that gives you power and makes you go up and down vertically) is oriented longitudinally. The 222 has the grip positioned laterally, just like an airplane's throttles.
That assumes there is training. Like was said, it costs money and time, and not required.
That is a shame. I would do at least one full auto during every flight if able. It just became something you did, not something to be concerned about. We'd place bets on doing autos from the 180 abeam the runway, keeping the needles split all the way to the landing.
I put this into the same category as spins in a FW. That used to be just something you did, again, not something to be concerned about.
GroundPounder
Well-Known Member
She was a cutie, was in Magnum as well.
Interesting.
Regarding spin training: in my glider training my instructors would have me (and all of their other students) recover from a spin on a specific heading (N,S,E,W). At first it was daunting. But after a couple of flights you got used to that specific flight environment, so you had the brain bites and the SA to put it all together, and it became a fun little game.
It was also practical- if you found yourself in a gaggle in a thermal, and you fudged it up and got yourself into a spin, you didn't recover immediately. You recover once you're below the lowest airplane in the gaggle and headed towards your intended landing point- just in case you're below the thermal or can't find the lift again.
It is quite different comparing glider PTS and FW ACS requirements.
Gliders got it right in my opinion.
Glider must demonstrate:
f. entry technique and minimum entry altitude for intentional spins
g. control technique to maintain a spin.
h. orientation during a spin.
i. recovery technique and minimum recovery altitude for intentional spins.
FW Spin Awareness
Task D. Spin Awareness
Objective: To determine the applicant exhibits satisfactory knowledge of the causes and procedures for recovery from unintentional spins and understands the risk associated with unintentional spins.
Skills: The applicant exhibits the skill to: intentionally left blank
Is flying that close to building legal? Because it looks pretty close at first blush.
Someone online pointed out that folks may have been throwing things at the helo from balconies as it passed one of the hotels, can't tell for sure from the video but certainly possible.
No, and even if it were, is it safe?
91.119(a) would apply. During a close banked low altitude flyby, one could argue that there would be very little time to make an emergency landing.
§ 91.119 Minimum safe altitudes: General.
Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) Helicopters, powered parachutes, and weight-shift-control aircraft. If the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface—
(1) A helicopter may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, provided each person operating the helicopter complies with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the FAA; and
(2) A powered parachute or weight-shift-control aircraft may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (c) of this section.
Didn't look it, but I was also wondering if it was legal. Looks like it ain't, thanks.
So Cal is a *very* helo friendly area though given the volume of high net worth and celebrity Part 135 customers and part 91 operators. That and news gathering as well. A lot of crazy things happen routinely with helos in that area. It will be interesting what the local FSDO pursues after the NTSB wraps up.
There is quite a bit of high resolution photography coming out that shows the condition of the tail rotor while in forward flight and it looks like the pitch links may have been damaged and it was only when the vertical stab was unloaded at slow flight that tail rotor failure became imminent failure became apparent. Like the TH-57, the vert stab unloads the tail rotor above 60 knots or so.
We’ve hurt and damaged more people and aircraft doing practice autos in the last 20 years than we have in actual ones. Engineering reliability, maintenance standardization, and materials science compared to the 70s and 80s aircraft is significantly better in basically all TMS these days.
Most military RW are in excess of >16k lbs in most regimes anyways. We’re not autorotating aircraft, we’re controlling a meteorite and hoping the stroking seats save the VA a 100% disability rating. Let’s just be honest about the situation. Not really comparable to most civilian helicopters that weigh less than 5-7k lbs.
Autorotations as a skill set and air work drill? Building confidence in the systems and aerodynamics of our aircraft? Sure. However the cost benefit as a hard requirement doesn’t buy us a lot anymore.