Need Helo. pilot input!

self | 11 March 2002 | buzzcat

[buzzcat]

My buddy was a US Army Chinook crewman years back. We got into an argument about the Huey and Chinook, involving autorotation efficiency of each helo. I thought that the Huey (which I've flown in as a passenger) would be a better helo to be in in case of an in-flight emergency, He insisted that the Chinook would be a much better craft in which to find yourself in the event of an inflight mulit-engine failure. Who is right? I told him that the Chinook would drop like a rock, while in a Huey, you would have at least half a chance.

[buzzcat]

Your views appreciated!

[Uglywhiteguy]

Having flown in both, I think both would be bad on any crash dummy in a test...but the Chinook has tires that may be of some help and a stronger body...so I vote against the Huey....

[Texaggie79]

General Interest
6 minutes

[There's millions of'em]

Well, to properly answer your question one would need to be rated in both. Assuming one has plenty of altitude and therefore time to react and set up the landing, the Huey was actually fun to autorotate. Engine loss on take off is a bummer. Hydraulic failure and engine loss would ruin your entire day.

[DallasMike]

I worked for Bell Helicopter in the 1980s and they prided themselves on the auto-rotation capabilities of their ships. I have no personal experience and no desire to try it myself, but it was interesting to watch them run through the tests when new models were being rolled out.

[AzJP]

I hate to split hairs, but either can auto-rotate and either could be survivable after "simple" engine failures.
However, the Chinook cousin I was familiar with in 'Nam fell like a rock 'cause the engines quit when a round exploded a transmission and the rotors failed to autorotate for some mechanical reason.
If, IF you could find one pilot with equal skills in both ships (forget the one vs two engine Bell problem) I have no idea which he/she would choose.
Sorry.
P.S. I once flew often with a Hughes 300 pilot who could autorotate into a landing smoother than kissing a babies cheek. In a OH-6A he was a deadweight P.O.S. Which leads me to believe that pilot skills would make more of a difference than airframe.
Sorry I can't give you a better answer, but us fixed wing pukes have been known to be brick-dumb about fling wings.

Fixed wings are for those pilots who can't do more than one thing at a time.

[drjoe]

Of course the fuel tanks run along the sides and bottom of the Sh*t-hook and are rather liable to rupture in the event of a hard landing at the end of an auto-rotation. And of course the problem with dual engine A/C is that there are twice as many things to go wrong and if one engine goes you are not guaranteed a safe landing on the one that remains. This is as true with rotor winged as fixed wing A/C. Take your pick - me? - I'll stay on the ground.

[Pylot]

I am pretty sure the Chinook version flown by the Army in Nam never received an airworthiness certificate.

If you were ever in one, the leaking hydraulic lines along the inside of the body did not inspire confidence.

Properly executed, an auto rotation can be a smooth, if not firm, landing. Improperly executed it is called a crash.

[buzzcat]

I think you hit the wrong button on your computer. Did I miss something? Made no sense. And why in the world does an Aggie have the flag of the Heart of Dixie flying on his intro window? (I'm a Montgomery boy and an AU fan.)

[dalereed]

" Fixed wings are for those pilots who can't do more than one thing at a time."

With that statement, I assume that you aren't instrument rated flying single pilot.

[satan]

Agree that if you're good autorotations are actually fun. Hydraulic failure gives you only one chance, then you die. I have heard that a huey with a 540 system could autorotate, and if you didn't like where you landed you still had enough rotor inertia to move. Do you know what keeps the s__thook blades from hitting each other. Sheer coincidence.

[buzzcat]

Wow, thank you. My Chinook crewman buddy related an instance were a hydrol. line broke and he ordered the bird down RIGHT NOW. They and the bird survived, but my buddy had to convince the pilot that yes, indeed, the line had burst and they needed to put down right away on this field somewhere. The pilot was an ass about it for some reason.

[Texaggie79]

The general interests forum is now for all non political threads.

It's not the heart of dixie flag it's the Alabama flag. That's where I live.

[AzJP]

LOL
Not any more, but once upon a time long long ago.
That slogan I used is from an old bumper sticker/tee shirt sold a long time ago. I think by the Whirly Girls.
It refered to those bad days when only small fixed wings had even one axis auto pilot.
Yes, it's a better world now, but I do remember when the only way to do a cross country and trim the ship for something important like map reading, coffee drinking, or nose picking was to choose a fixed wing over a fling wing.
'course those days the skies were damn near empty. Now I wouldn't get anywhere say Van Nuys in other than a commercial. Used to do it VFR in a 150, and the occasional Lear or U2 would scare me poopless.
But I know what you mean, and I admire and respect those that can drive a fixed wing twin IFR through a crowded sky in bad weather.
Still, for a little time in the pattern of a quiet airport, I think a heli would be more of a workout than a light fixed.
Heck, what's better: chocolate or vanilla?

Now a Stearman, that's fun................

[is_is]

bump

[buzzcat]

Yes, I mentioned that I'm a Montgomery boy, so I THINK I am familiar with the red Cross of St. Andrew on the white background, adopted as the flag of the State of Alabama in the 19th Century. (See the Confederate Battle Flag for a later adaptation of same.) I've only run into a few of you Aggie boys in my life, and save one, you all are the most strange, irritating bunch of alumni from any university in the nation, Harvard included, that I have encountered. Sorry, but you proved it tonight. I have to go out drinking now. Save it for later.

[T-Bird45]

Fixed wings are for those pilots who can't do more than one thing at a time.

Further fun in the bumper sticker/t-shirt saying vein:

Helicopters don't really fly -- they just beat the air into submission.

[AzJP]

Oh yeas, LOL!
Here's one that's probably Politically Incorrect now:
A helicopter is God's way of saying keep the friggin' engineer away from the assembly line!
Oh my, this is getting crude...

[Texaggie79]

Alls I know is, last time our Football teams met, we won, in the cotton bowl :-P

[NY.SS-Bar9]

Fixed wings are for those pilots who can't do more than one thing at a time.

Helicopters don't fly, they are so ugly, they are repelled by the Earth!