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BlackHawk Helicopters - ***POLL***

T

teckmaster

Golden Member
In the local paper today was another story of a BlackHawk Helicopter crashing to the ground and killing all onboard.

Who thinks they should be taken out of service and inspected like the Concorde Jet?
 
I don't think its the helicopter itself.. Seems to me almost every-time it ends up being pilot error.. I think we are just getting to "advanced" when designing the machines... Simpler is better when you have to make instant life or death choices..
 
They are older aircraft and when you put a large number of them into action, there is bound to be some failures.
That is just they way it is.
Military aircraft under go more testing and scrutiny than just about any commerical aircraft before they are accepted.
Part of a Concordes rudder fell of today on an interantional flight, they are not grounding the aircraft.


I still can't believe we spend over a billion dollars a day on our military :Q
 
alright people
lets call this Airframe 101

Plane = stable airframe. Barring any pilot error and loss of engine speed it will fly straight.
Helicopter = combination of forces working against each other to keep stable. For example, you lose your rear rotar, you go spinning. Would you rather be flying a plane or having to balance half a dozen forces. Which one do you think causes more stress and has more places to go wrong?
 
We need the blackhawks to shoot and kill stuff. No way should they be taken out of service. We'd be naked and vulnerable.
 
Originally posted by: teckmaster
In the local paper today was another story of a BlackHawk Helicopter crashing to the ground and killing all onboard.

Who thinks they should be taken out of service and inspected like the Concorde Jet?
Click to expand...

Concorde Production : <50
Blackhawk Production : Thousands

With the number of UH-60's (and derivatives like the MH-60, SH-60, etc) the military has, you can't expect every single one to work as planned. And if one fails, that doesn't mean all of them do.

And regarding the shooting and killing thing, BlackHawks are mostly transport, armed with something relatively light, such as an M-60 or a 7.62 mm Minigun.
 
Originally posted by: BMdoobieW
We need the blackhawks to shoot and kill stuff. No way should they be taken out of service. We'd be naked and vulnerable.
Click to expand...

And we don't want to see BMdoobieW naked, do we? So keep 'em flying!
 
From my understanding the Blackhawk is a supremely capable helicopter.... the frequency of helicopter crashes is due to the amount of night time flying, the use of NOD's or NVG's and the lack of depth perception when using them... The ability to conduct missions under cover of darkness is one of our greatest assets in military operations, especially missions conducted by Special Operations....

Stick two toilet paper rolls to your eye with green filters and try and conduct the kind of manuevers these guys do at low altitude, and you might get an idea of why there is such a significant number of accidents.... I think Grasshopper27 can expand on this much better than I can, but I think you get the idea...


Dave
 
from what i've heard blackhawk is nice and stable because of its mass compared to small helicopters. I wouln't think you need to take em outta service to look for some pattern in fialing parts. Theres tons of blackhawks in service, so in that case that kinda pattern would be obvious by now
 
Um, the helo that crashed was flying in a sand storm or something comparable. Care to venture a guess as to why it crashed? Hint: It's highly doubtful that there was a design flaw which forced it down.
 
Originally posted by: Elemental007
alright people
lets call this Airframe 101

Plane = stable airframe. Barring any pilot error and loss of engine speed it will fly straight.
Helicopter = combination of forces working against each other to keep stable. For example, you lose your rear rotar, you go spinning. Would you rather be flying a plane or having to balance half a dozen forces. Which one do you think causes more stress and has more places to go wrong?
Click to expand...

exactly. If you are flying an airplane and put it in a turn or a dive, given enough altitude the aircraft will right itself. Never flown helicopters, but I doubt they would do the same.

I don't know the details of this last accident, but lets no forget this is not the same type of flight realm as someone taking a scenic tour of the grand canyon. Lots less margin for error, and add in conditions such as blwoing sand which can reduce visibility to zero, then you have soem very challenging flight conditions.
 
Yeah lets can the blackhawk. We can just unretire all of those old Vietnam era Hueys and if we dont have enough we can just buy back the ones we sold to all those 3rd world countries.
rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: IamDavid
I don't think its the helicopter itself.. Seems to me almost every-time it ends up being pilot error.. I think we are just getting to "advanced" when designing the machines... Simpler is better when you have to make instant life or death choices..
Click to expand...

If you recall the few Boeing 737-300/400 crashes (the ones where the plane dove into the ground, usually on decscent), it was written off as pilot error for years, until Boeing was proven that there was a faulty rudder valve that froze in flight and caused the operation to reverse.
Boeing 'corrected' the problem by adding another valve to the rudder, making three.
 
I just watched Blackhawk down last night for the first time, cool movie. What are those little choppers called?
 
Originally posted by: OFFascist
Originally posted by: speg
I just watched Blackhawk down last night for the first time, cool movie. What are those little choppers called?
Click to expand...

Those are M/AH-6 Littlebirds.
Click to expand...

The little ones are Kiowas.

Let me tell you, those Blackhawks are awesome. I've ridden in a lot of Hueys, and I thought those things were cool until I got into a Blackhawk. The difference is like the difference between the old Jeeps and the Humvee. There is no comparison in power, manueverability and size. The Blackhawks are great helicopters. Lots of soldiers are killed in Humvees too, but that doesn't mean we should get rid of them.


BTW, one of the Blackhawks nicknames is "Crash Hawk". It's been with it ever since it came into the inventory. The crashes are almost always due to pilot error.
 
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