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TH-73

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
Ironic if this is indeed true. Syllabus full autorotation was a *prime requirement* in aircraft selection. It's what excluded the more advanced contenders - eg Bell 427 and AB H135. Unreal. Leonardo employed a bench of mostly Navy TPS grads, so it makes you wonder why the issues of controlling overspeed wasn't surfaced ....

Full autos were an objective KPP. Power recovery was the threshold. Not sure what you’re talking about in regards to “prime requirement.” Autos certainly weren’t a focus in the AHTS solicitation.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Full autos were an objective KPP. Power recovery was the threshold. Not sure what you’re talking about in regards to “prime requirement.” Autos certainly weren’t a focus in the AHTS solicitation.
During the solicitation and industry response period there was specific language that the capability of routine, repeated full touchdown autos was a make or break requirement. I don't know what the proper contract terminaology was, but it was a big deal in selecting the Leonardo product. I just think its interesting, as a Helo CFI/CFII that "Surprise", the 4 bladed, fully articulated rotor with relatively small chord and energy retention will overspeed rapidly when loaded and care must be demonstrated in preventing overspeed. Ha ha. And I'm curious why the IP's can't train to proficiency and why the manuever can't be taught safely to students with additional training.
 

wink

War Hoover NFO.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
During the solicitation and industry response period there was specific language that the capability of routine, repeated full touchdown autos was a make or break requirement. I don't know what the proper contract terminaology was, but it was a big deal in selecting the Leonardo product. I just think its interesting, as a Helo CFI/CFII that "Surprise", the 4 bladed, fully articulated rotor with relatively small chord and energy retention will overspeed rapidly when loaded and care must be demonstrated in preventing overspeed. Ha ha. And I'm curious why the IP's can't train to proficiency and why the manuever can't be taught safely to students with additional training.
Assuming the rumor is true :rolleyes:.
 

phrogdriver

More humble than you would understand
pilot
Super Moderator
During the solicitation and industry response period there was specific language that the capability of routine, repeated full touchdown autos was a make or break requirement. I don't know what the proper contract terminaology was, but it was a big deal in selecting the Leonardo product. I just think its interesting, as a Helo CFI/CFII that "Surprise", the 4 bladed, fully articulated rotor with relatively small chord and energy retention will overspeed rapidly when loaded and care must be demonstrated in preventing overspeed. Ha ha. And I'm curious why the IP's can't train to proficiency and why the manuever can't be taught safely to students with additional training.
I can tell you as the person leading one of the bid efforts that full touchdown autos were explicitly NOT a requirement, nor identified as a key area of concern in the solicitation.
 

zippy

Freedom!
pilot
Contributor
Assuming the rumor is true :rolleyes:.
Kid heard it from the corpsman giving out the peanut butter shot in the clinic after a weekend at Seville Quarter who said they heard it from the SELRES instructor who was down from Atlanta for a psych eval after he told his Delta OE instructor to eat a bag of dicks…If Its a clinic rumor it must be true…
 
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IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
Kid heard it from the corpsman giving out the peanut butter shot in the clinic after a weekend at Seville Quarter who said they heard it from the SELRES instructor who was down from Atlanta for a psych eval after he told his Delta OE instructor to eat a bag of dicks…If Its a clinic rumor it must be true…
Reminds me of this (NSFW audio)

I read somewhere it was filmed in the parliament/senate/whatever room of Ukraine.
 

bunny_0329

Woppin'
pilot
Kid heard it from the corpsman giving out the peanut butter shot in the clinic after a weekend at Seville Quarter who said they heard it from the SELRES instructor who was down from Atlanta for a psych eval after he told his Delta OE instructor to eat a bag of dicks…If Its a clinic rumor it must be true…
It was an instructor that’s been at the wing for more than 12 years. That FTI was written in April when there were three 73’s on the line here and one of them was down because the compressor was installed backwards. I wouldn’t be surprised if some things have changed.
 

kejo

Well-Known Member
pilot
Ok folks let’s squash some rumors:

1. Full autos are in the syllabus, and our instructors are doing them every day as we get closer to starting students. They are technically waived until TW-5 and CNATRA are briefed by the AHTS team on execution COAs, which should be soon. Having done a few fulls in the 73, I don’t think they are more or less difficult than the 57…just different. That said, bending/breaking a 73 is way more expensive than the 57, so there is a legit cost/benefit decision that needs to be made. I think they’ll remain.

2. While there have been a few overspeeds in the 73 (and I mean, literally just a few), most of them were either during a power recovery auto or other high AOB dynamic maneuver. Personally, I attribute these to a lot of built in TH-57 muscle memory by inexperienced 73 pilots. 73 is a great aircraft, but it’s not a 57. Leonardo came down and provided advanced energy management instruction to most AHTS members and they haven’t been an issue since.

For better or worse, this was a program that skipped the normal acquisitions and OT&E process (COTS, baby!), meaning pretty much all of that has been done on site by the AHTS team for the last few years. The program is light years ahead of where it was even a year ago, but we’re not quite at the finish line. So things may still change.

Edit: spelling
 

IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
Ok folks let’s squash some rumors:

1. Full autos are in the syllabus, and our instructors are doing them every day as we get closer to starting students. They are technically waived until TW-5 and CNATRA are briefed by the AHTS team on execution COAs, which should be soon. Having done a few fulls in the 73, I don’t think they are more or less difficult than the 57…just different. That said, bending/breaking a 73 is way more expensive than the 57, so there is a legit cost/benefit decision that needs to be made. I think they’ll remain.

2. While there have been a few overspeeds in the 73 (and I mean, literally just a few), most of them were either during a power recovery auto or other high AOB dynamic maneuver. Personally, I attribute these to a lot of built in TH-57 muscle memory by inexperienced 73 pilots. 73 is a great aircraft, but it’s not a 57. Leonardo came down and provided advanced energy management instruction to most AHTS members and they haven’t been an issue since.

For better or worse, this was a program that skipped the normal acquisitions and OT&E process (COTS, baby!), meaning pretty much all of that has been done on site by the AHTS team for the last few years. The program is light years ahead of where it was even a year ago, but we’re not quite at the finish line. So things may still change.

Edit: spelling
AW forum needs a truth bomb reaction emoji for posts like this.flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u2.jpg
 

croakerfish

Well-Known Member
pilot
Ok folks let’s squash some rumors:

1. Full autos are in the syllabus, and our instructors are doing them every day as we get closer to starting students. They are technically waived until TW-5 and CNATRA are briefed by the AHTS team on execution COAs, which should be soon. Having done a few fulls in the 73, I don’t think they are more or less difficult than the 57…just different. That said, bending/breaking a 73 is way more expensive than the 57, so there is a legit cost/benefit decision that needs to be made. I think they’ll remain.

2. While there have been a few overspeeds in the 73 (and I mean, literally just a few), most of them were either during a power recovery auto or other high AOB dynamic maneuver. Personally, I attribute these to a lot of built in TH-57 muscle memory by inexperienced 73 pilots. 73 is a great aircraft, but it’s not a 57. Leonardo came down and provided advanced energy management instruction to most AHTS members and they haven’t been an issue since.

For better or worse, this was a program that skipped the normal acquisitions and OT&E process (COTS, baby!), meaning pretty much all of that has been done on site by the AHTS team for the last few years. The program is light years ahead of where it was even a year ago, but we’re not quite at the finish line. So things may still change.

Edit: spelling
How is maintenance availability so far?
 

kejo

Well-Known Member
pilot
How is maintenance availability so far?
It’s improved quite a bit over the last few months. Not going to lie, it wasn’t great for a long time but I think those were more process/program issues vice the aircraft itself. Some days it’s actually better than the 57 side, but that’s with 20 aircraft. Hopefully as we get more deliveries the trend continues in the right direction.
 

number9

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Can you post (unclassified, non-sensitive) photos? I would love to see what a day in the life of a helo student looks like.
 
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