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Hot new helicopter/rotorcraft news

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Another article I missed on the actual Part 27 FAA SPIFR certification for the TH-73 - and the poor thinking that you need 2 engines being downright crushed...

Now if we could just get Big Navy to issue you helo bubbas safe flight gear - and getting you all the HGU-56/P helmet as standard.

 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Helo story of the weekend as told by a former Vietnam Cobra pilot, Army Apache test pilot and Boeing Apache demo pilot. Didn't get a date, but the Army had Boeing (maybe it was Mac Douglas then) send guys to Turkey to sell them the Apache. Army says no acro (60/30). That put a big dent in the demo team's repertoire. So my buddy draws a Turkish Army pilot with actual combat experience in the AH-1W. He figures he will have to do something really impressive. He pulls the CB for the sync elevator, flies the Apache backward at 100 kts. and then buries the cyclic causing a back asswards 30 degree climb several hundred feet. Recover to hover. Another high time Apache guy said it will easily do 100kts backwards, but the auto sync elevator will kill ya unless it is disabled. But it was the climb I wish I could have seen.
 

SynixMan

HKG Based Artificial Excrement Pilot
pilot
Contributor
Helo story of the weekend as told by a former Vietnam Cobra pilot, Army Apache test pilot and Boeing Apache demo pilot. Didn't get a date, but the Army had Boeing (maybe it was Mac Douglas then) send guys to Turkey to sell them the Apache. Army says no acro (60/30). That put a big dent in the demo team's repertoire. So my buddy draws a Turkish Army pilot with actual combat experience in the AH-1W. He figures he will have to do something really impressive. He pulls the CB for the sync elevator, flies the Apache backward at 100 kts. and then buries the cyclic causing a back asswards 30 degree climb several hundred feet. Recover to hover. Another high time Apache guy said it will easily do 100kts backwards, but the auto sync elevator will kill ya unless it is disabled. But it was the climb I wish I could have seen.

Overriding safety systems to show boat tactically irrelevant maneuvers to foreign pilots? Cool
 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Overriding safety systems to show boat tactically irrelevant maneuvers to foreign pilots? Cool
Hater. He knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't dream it up on the spot. May have been something in the test program. Non tactical maneuvers are frequently flown in company demos. It wasn't a safety system per se he disabled. Simply took the sync stabilizer out of auto. I bet you practice flying the -60 without the sync stabilizer. And he happens to be a hard nose safety nazi. So there is that.
 

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
Hater. He knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't dreamed it up on the spot. May have been something in the test program. Non tactical manuvers are frequently flown in company demos. It wasn't a safety system per se he disabled. Simply took the sync stabilizer out of auto. I bet you practise flying the -60 without the sync stabilizer. And he happens to be a hard nose safety nazi. So there is that.

There isn’t an aircraft in the world built to go 100 knots backwards. The blades were almost certainly flapping excessively and the TPP angle necessary would be putting a moment strain on the mast that the aircraft was not designed for.
 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
There isn’t an aircraft in the world built to go 100 knots backwards. The blades were almost certainly flapping excessively and the TPP angle necessary would be putting a moment strain on the mast that the aircraft was not designed for.
I dunno. I certainly trust your knowledge over mine on helo matters. But I trust the high time in type factory test and demo pilots over you. I certainly think the reasonable sounding effects you mention would be known to test pilots on the program.

Setting aside the wisdom of said maneuver, I have a honest question about a comment made above. If the mast can take the strain of 100+ kts forward, why can't it take 100 kts aft? And why is your concern wit the mast and not the head especially if you would have excessive blade flapping? My first thought was concern for tail boom stress in the backwards climb. Just trying to learn.
 

Pags

N/A
pilot
I dunno. I certainly trust your knowledge over mine on helo matters. But I trust the high time in type factory test and demo pilots over you. I certainly think the reasonable sounding effects you mention would be known to test pilots on the program.

Setting aside the wisdom of said maneuver, I have a honest question about a comment made above. If the mast can take the strain of 100+ kts forward, why can't it take 100 kts aft? And why is your concern wit the mast and not the head especially if you would have excessive blade flapping? My first thought was concern for tail boom stress in the backwards climb. Just trying to learn.
The transmission only has one gear for reverse.
 

IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
There isn’t an aircraft in the world built to go 100 knots backwards. The blades were almost certainly flapping excessively and the TPP angle necessary would be putting a moment strain on the mast that the aircraft was not designed for.
While no helo may have been designed to go 100 knots backwards, it has nothing to do with flapping or mast moment. The main rotor doesn't care what direction you fly, and the tail rotor only cares if it's sideward. The biggest problem flying backwards is not seeing where you're going. The next is probably TPP hitting the tail boom, then probably aero effects on whatever version of a very stab you have.
 
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