All Things Aviation Related

[Heel n Toe]

[svandamme]

Heineken isn't real beer...

[flipper35]

For the next attempt (a “supercharger test flight”), they bolted ammo cans to the underside of a removable maintenance panel on each wing, well away from the engine—doubling their yield to 10 gallons, enough for 100 men. This time the mixture froze. The squadron again devoured it immediately. But the ice cream was too flaky for Reinburg’s taste, so his crew modified the ammo cans with small propellers: The wind turned the propellers, which drove a screw inside the can, churning the mixture. The result, finally, was a smooth, creamy chocolate ice cream.



https://www.airspacemag.com/as-next/cool-side-tropical-warfare-180969515/

[doug_porsche]

https://apnews.com/article/nasa-mars-helicopter-flight-1f39e9b9c56ad3bbe3634aeabfa4abaf

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet.

[astrochex]

Avenger recovery,
https://youtu.be/XSORkfEGTVI

[edgemar]

Did it have 5 blade props on it when you flew it?

Originally Posted by 911TES

Wow, looks like N500PJ. I flew that plane a lot for medivac. I also “flew” an ‘82 SC 144k miles

[GH85Carrera]

Pretty amazing to see a chopper that big move like that. Pretty weird to see it take off rolling backwards.

[edgemar]

Mid-Air today

[Brown747]

^^^ details here. All survived.

https://avherald.com/h?article=4e74b6e5&opt=0

[Jolly Amaranto]

Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas. August 1942. Howard R. Hollem photo. Library of Congress collection.

[Ctopher]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Pretty amazing to see a chopper that big move like that. Pretty weird to see it take off rolling backwards.

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing. And yes, never seen video of one moving like that, especially with its tail up so high circling. Most videos I’ve seen are water recovery and the awesome ones recovery troops from the side of the mountain top hovering with the tail ramp on a mountain edge.

CTopher

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Ctopher

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing. And yes, never seen video of one moving like that, especially with its tail up so high circling. Most videos I’ve seen are water recovery and the awesome ones recovery troops from the side of the mountain top hovering with the tail ramp on a mountain edge.

CTopher

I remember one of my former co-workers who was a Vietnam vet saying the sound of a Huey was the very sweetest music ever. He had been pinned down and out of food and water and the choppers came in and rescued them.

[pavulon]

[john70t]

Do It Again, Killer Egg! (Vietnam War helicopter footage)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNFKz6ohpaw

[flipper35]

My youngest's favorite is the later version Little Bird and has liked them from a very young age but he is only 11 now.

[flipper35]

I think I posted this early on but I can't be bothered to check!

I don't think Paul/Seahawk is old enough to be the pilot.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flipper35

I think I posted this early on but I can't be bothered to check!

I don't think Paul/Seahawk is old enough to be the pilot.

YCH-53A first flight was on October 14, 1964. The picture above is at the Sikorsky Factory. I was seven

The video was also taken at the factory. Sikorsky Test Pilot and a Marine TP...pretty famous flight. You can see a Coast Guard H-3 in the background.

I was the chief government pilot at the factory for three years and it was incredible. I also flew at their West Palm Beach flight test facility.

I have been upside down in a helicopter, a Lynx Helicopter during an exchange flight. The key is the design of the rotor head, of which there are many. I would bore you guys to death discussing the different designs. I was very lucky: I have stick time in over ten distinct helicopter designs and most variants of the H-60.

BTW, I have about 100 hours in the CH-53E, which is huge and has a third engine: It is like, as the saying goes, flying your house from the bathroom.

[flipper35]

No, you wouldn't bore us.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flipper35

No, you wouldn't bore us.

Bet me

Page down on this link: https://www.sikorskyarchives.com/S-65H-53D%20SEA%20STALLION.php

Look at the size of the H-53 series gear boxes over the years...and the evolution of the H-53 rotor head. The rotor hear is immense.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

That is a massive drive train!

The 53E has seven rotor blades and is a smooth as can be when all is well.

The rotor blades are a mixture of titanium leading edges, honey combed aluminum and CF and a ton of metal at the root.

I got to know the rotor blade manufacturing machine shop folks well and they would call me to come observe the friction stir welding for 53E blades. So cool.

I have been at 10ft and 180kts over the desert as comfortable as can be. We were of course empty, on an established low level route, etc.

Remarkable ride but I still prefer the H-60 series. The H-60L (Army version) is a stupendous helicopter...I wish I could get seat time in the upgrade.