This is why I don't like helicopters
- Thread starter Rubycon
- Start date
destrekor
Lifer
- Nov 18, 2005
- 28,799
- 359
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busted its tail rotor, lucky he was able to land it okay, you could see him spin because of the busted tail rotor.
that happens because helicopters aren't exactly the heaviest of machines, and the wind looked really gusty and the waves were rising and lowering the chopper. With the rotors still a whirlin, a little lift was generated in combination with the sudden drop from the platform. That's a tough thing to do as a helicopter pilot. I mean, they train for crazy shit, but that's the difference between a good pilot and a bad one... the one that is good is the one that walks away from those tough situations.
edit:
just read the description. now it looks like he was trying to take off before he really was able to do so due to one of the hold down straps.
that happens because helicopters aren't exactly the heaviest of machines, and the wind looked really gusty and the waves were rising and lowering the chopper. With the rotors still a whirlin, a little lift was generated in combination with the sudden drop from the platform. That's a tough thing to do as a helicopter pilot. I mean, they train for crazy shit, but that's the difference between a good pilot and a bad one... the one that is good is the one that walks away from those tough situations.
edit:
just read the description. now it looks like he was trying to take off before he really was able to do so due to one of the hold down straps.
Nailed the landing. Well done. Helicopters are amazingly survivable. There's no such thing as too short a runway for a helo - the same cannot be said of any fixed-wing aircraft.
Probably the most dangerous fighter aircraft in history -- to the pilot.
OP, helos are fun. I have some great pictures riding 30 feet above the river in Baghdad. The best ride was hearing/seeing flares pop over some random neighborhood as we went back at night.
Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
try hovering for > 60 seconds in a harrier
My point is, it's a fixed-wing craft and it can land with no runway
Taking off in High seas (and likely high wind) seems a hell of a lot more difficult than taking off from the ground.
that takes major skills. The gut reaction would be to drop the collective and just let the ship drop, but the pilot had the presence of mind to keep it airborn until he had it over the pad.
Getting it over the pad would have been hard as hell, as we could all see the tail rotor got wrecked right at the beginning so his peddles were shot. To have the presence of mind to be able to keep the cyclic pointing the right way (the joystick. to get the helo to do what it did he'd have to start by pulling the cyclic to the back left, but as the bird rotated due to the broken tail roter he'd have to be able to keep the cyclic pushed towards the center of the landing pad.
Once he was safely over it and not translating rapidly he drops the collective and lands.
You'll notice that aside from the initial bang of the tail rotor he does a very good job keeping the helo level. this means that while he's in a helocopter that is basically crashing he's not giving large control inputs. If i was in there I'd be applying full control effort to the cyclic to try to put the helo back over the pad - this would have led to large movements of the helo that would have been disasterous. Maintaining a roughly stable hover requires very small control inputs, and the ability to remain calm enough to apply only small inputs whil he's got to be crapping his pants speaks to the pilot's experience.
even if the initial mistake was the pilot's (i didn't see a strap, I'd guess that the pitching of the ship caused the helocopter to lift off not at the level, and the pilot was not used to sea takeoffs), the recovery was a very nice piece of flying and the pilot deserves commendation for that.
Getting it over the pad would have been hard as hell, as we could all see the tail rotor got wrecked right at the beginning so his peddles were shot. To have the presence of mind to be able to keep the cyclic pointing the right way (the joystick. to get the helo to do what it did he'd have to start by pulling the cyclic to the back left, but as the bird rotated due to the broken tail roter he'd have to be able to keep the cyclic pushed towards the center of the landing pad.
Once he was safely over it and not translating rapidly he drops the collective and lands.
You'll notice that aside from the initial bang of the tail rotor he does a very good job keeping the helo level. this means that while he's in a helocopter that is basically crashing he's not giving large control inputs. If i was in there I'd be applying full control effort to the cyclic to try to put the helo back over the pad - this would have led to large movements of the helo that would have been disasterous. Maintaining a roughly stable hover requires very small control inputs, and the ability to remain calm enough to apply only small inputs whil he's got to be crapping his pants speaks to the pilot's experience.
even if the initial mistake was the pilot's (i didn't see a strap, I'd guess that the pitching of the ship caused the helocopter to lift off not at the level, and the pilot was not used to sea takeoffs), the recovery was a very nice piece of flying and the pilot deserves commendation for that.
Helicopters are only "amazingly survivable" because they fly into so many pieces when they crash, you're amazed that anyone survived!
Very cool machines, but they're very complex, don't have many redundancies in the critical flying systems, require a lot of skill and coordination to fly, and are unstable. Great recipe for fun, versatility, and maneuverability, but it does make them expensive and somewhat risky.
Raduque
Lifer
- Aug 22, 2004
- 13,140
- 138
- 106
As far as I'm concerned, that guy just won Helicopter Pilot of the Year award. Even if it did happen on a Greenpeace boat.
Also, I don't think it was a strap. It looked like the boat pitched and basically threw the 'copter into the air. Whatever caused that, the Pucker Factor had to be in the millions.
Also, I don't think it was a strap. It looked like the boat pitched and basically threw the 'copter into the air. Whatever caused that, the Pucker Factor had to be in the millions.
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