Never ask you pilot to demonstrate what the Aircraft can do. We had a British Sgt pilot come in to the Airfield Maurice Rose Army Airfield (Heliport) in Frankfurt Germany If a 3 star general wants to call it an airfield no one is going to argue with him. Back to the story He was flying a Gazelle similar to the one pictured. He parked and started talking to one of the pilots who wanted a ride. So the British pilot says OK. So he takes off after requesting a low approach Which we approved Low approaches are supposed to be 500 above the runway not apparently in the British army. He gets to the end of the runway after flying about 10 above it. (the runway BTW was 2203 feet long and the tower is less than 100 feet from the runway center-line and is only on top of a two story building.) Pulls back on the controls and goes Straight up and then kicks it over and goes straight down like the picture then goes to the other end of the runway and does it again. The he taxis for landing before he stopped we had the airfield safety officer and the airfield operations officer in the tower asking what the hell was going on. it was cool to watch and nothing else came of it.
That helicopter is coming out of a loop, the Gazelle is one of the few helicopters capable of it. It can be done but you need a helicopter with a special fuel pickup in the tank that will take fuel from the top of the tank when the helicopter is upside down to prevent the engine from flaming out. You also need a rigid rotor head which this model has. It also helps to have lots of altitude and as little weight onboard as possible and more courage than brains.
Red Bull has a highly modified MBB105 that performs loops and rolls at airshows.
Woah, pucker factor 11! :-o
ReplyDeleteNever ask you pilot to demonstrate what the Aircraft can do. We had a British Sgt pilot come in to the Airfield Maurice Rose Army Airfield (Heliport) in Frankfurt Germany If a 3 star general wants to call it an airfield no one is going to argue with him. Back to the story He was flying a Gazelle similar to the one pictured. He parked and started talking to one of the pilots who wanted a ride. So the British pilot says OK. So he takes off after requesting a low approach Which we approved Low approaches are supposed to be 500 above the runway not apparently in the British army. He gets to the end of the runway after flying about 10 above it. (the runway BTW was 2203 feet long and the tower is less than 100 feet from the runway center-line and is only on top of a two story building.) Pulls back on the controls and goes Straight up and then kicks it over and goes straight down like the picture then goes to the other end of the runway and does it again. The he taxis for landing before he stopped we had the airfield safety officer and the airfield operations officer in the tower asking what the hell was going on. it was cool to watch and nothing else came of it.
ReplyDeleteThat helicopter is coming out of a loop, the Gazelle is one of the few helicopters capable of it. It can be done but you need a helicopter with a special fuel pickup in the tank that will take fuel from the top of the tank when the helicopter is upside down to prevent the engine from flaming out. You also need a rigid rotor head which this model has. It also helps to have lots of altitude and as little weight onboard as possible and more courage than brains.
ReplyDeleteRed Bull has a highly modified MBB105 that performs loops and rolls at airshows.
Al_in_Ottawa
Search for Westland Lynx loops, aerobatics.
ReplyDeleteThey give passengers boxing gloves to wear to protect seats and other bits of aircraft.