Helicopters......

Agent57

bompington wrote:

Sitting opposite an open door when the helicopter is banked over so you are looking straight down at the ground is quite memorable

Just like feckin' Saigon, amirite?

itboffin

Long Time Lurker wrote:

There are only two types of helicopter - one that has crashed and one that is about to crash.
At least that is what my cousin in the airforce says. But then he might be jealous as he is a navigator on the huge transporters.

Nope he's right, I trained as a pilot in the army air corp back before i became the corporate swine i am these days.

davis

itboffin wrote:

Long Time Lurker wrote:

There are only two types of helicopter - one that has crashed and one that is about to crash.
At least that is what my cousin in the airforce says. But then he might be jealous as he is a navigator on the huge transporters.

Nope he's right, I trained as a pilot in the army air corp back before i became the corporate swine i am these days.

Did they have helicopters back then?

itboffin

davis wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Long Time Lurker wrote:

There are only two types of helicopter - one that has crashed and one that is about to crash.
At least that is what my cousin in the airforce says. But then he might be jealous as he is a navigator on the huge transporters.

Nope he's right, I trained as a pilot in the army air corp back before i became the corporate swine i am these days.

Did they have helicopters back then?

I will kick you in your ....

taff..

SimonAH wrote:

The fun thing about helicopters is when they go too fast :-D

The rotors are wing profiles and produce lift as they are moved through the air by the drive shaft - after the aircraft gets enough forward speed the half of the rotor going backwards has little relative motion to the air and ceases to produce significant lift.
The half of the rotor going forwards is still creating loads of lift.
The aircraft therefore does a nifty flip onto it's back and crashes.

Thought I'd share that with you :-D

the advancing and retreating blades have a different pitch angle to counteract this, so nope, they don't flip over when going a bit fast.

the problem with high forward speed is the advancing blade tip going supersonic and suffering the aerodymamic effects of supersonic flight.

kelsen

itboffin wrote:

I will kick you in your ....

Is that such a good idea with that hernia? Perhaps just make do with..

taff..

Rick Chasey wrote:

Isn't that what happened to Colin McRae?

Or am I badly informed by my Daily Mail reading colleagues?

no, he was showing off low flying and lost control with no altitude to sort himself out

vitesse169

A couple of weeks before I retired from the Police, I had a late shift in Q99. Got about 4-5 hours in the air in the observers seat. Used the mapping, night vision etc. Used the M5 as a nav aid to get from Bristol to Glos/Chelt, we even helped to capture burglar bill on top of a local school using the night vision. All in all a cracking shift to go out on, surprisingly comfortable in the 'Eurocopter'.

SmellTheGlove

Make this the last thing you do before you go up - sorry that sounds a tad portentous...
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30005&t=12842332
..but enjoy the flight!

iPip

Long Time Lurker wrote:

There are only two types of helicopter - one that has crashed and one that is about to crash.
At least that is what my cousin in the airforce says. But then he might be jealous as he is a navigator on the huge transporters.

He's right! I fly quite regularly and the first thing I think when landing is, "got away with it again"!

itboffin

showing off is never a consideration when flying, I refuse to let any of my friends and family fly with me and not because i'm a bad pilot more because I know its not a safe method of transport, i do not want that responsibility.

PS. one of my closet friend is a chief inspector at the CAA he agrees on my POV as do ALL of my military friends. this means nothing other than as professional pilots we wouldn't unless we really had too .......

Greg T

itboffin wrote:

I refuse to let any of my friends and family fly with me .......

Good judgement, when you have so few friends you can't afford to lose any, also, such an accident could decimate the South Worzelshire Outreach Service in any case..

As for helicopters being dangerous, yes, horrible shaky noisy things that attract bullets and the ground - unless you really have to - don't...

As a side matter RAF pilots used to get a terrible slagging (which in itself is a good thing - the RAF is awful etc) in Norn Iron for not turning up when something good was on telly/the weekend etc. I wonder if it's changed any after Iraq and Afghan with the Medical Emergency Response Teams in the Chinook fleet?

mudcow007

Did my flight on saturday well all of 5 mins of it

it was all pretty smooth i was expecting the flight to be all rickety an wobbly, except for a bit of turbulence it was fine

noticed the place where we flew from had some vintage aeroplanes, come on plane nerds anyone know what they are?

my most favourite plane (except a spit) ever is one of these



an this looked lovely too



plus a few guns

rick_chasey

I know most of those weapons.


A sign of a mis-spent youth on computer games I suspect.

rick_chasey

They are, I reckon, a FAL for the cartridge rifle. and the Lee -enfield for the brown bolt action.

Sten for the side loader.

Bren for the upside down loader.

veronese68

I couldn't name the planes. But a couple of my mates took part in the Schneider cup in an old plane this year. How cool is that?

mudcow007

double post

mudcow007

Rick Chasey wrote:

They are, I reckon, a FAL for the cartridge rifle. and the Lee -enfield for the brown bolt action.

Sten for the side loader.

Bren for the upside down loader.

correct

Veronese68 wrote:

I couldn't name the planes. But a couple of my mates took part in the Schneider cup in an old plane this year. How cool is that?

now thats cool, thats where the spitfire came from originally isn't it?

awesome, id love fly, if i ever came into money id be flying

Planes are white biplane is a de havilland Tiger Moth

other is a de havilland Dragon Rapide

rick_chasey

mudcow007 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

They are, I reckon, a FAL for the cartridge rifle. and the Lee -enfield for the brown bolt action.

Sten for the side loader.

Bren for the upside down loader.

correct

Guess those hours and hours and hours of playing CoD paid off.

sassse

I had my fixed wing flying licence in an earlier life

They are both Dehavilland planes, the first is a DH-82A Tiger Moth II, second is DH-89A Dominie, link to their details if you want to look at them:

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-ANFC.html
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/G-AKOE.html

Stone Glider

Are those de Havillands' part of the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome?

SteppenHerring

Like jedster, I have been heliskiing (well, boarding) in Canada and it is fairly awesome. They you read that helicopters don't function very well at altitude ...

mudcow007

Stone Glider wrote:

Are those de Havillands' part of the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome?

i dont know to be honest, they were based in a hanger in Chirk the airfield seemed a bit like a dumping ground to be honest as there was a wrecked airframe outside the shed, but i didn't know what that was

NGale

HebdenBiker wrote:

As a teenager I was in the Air Cadets. One of our former cadets had gone on to be an RAF helicopter pilot, and on weekends he would fly his Wessex over from Shawbury, land on our school field and take us up for AEF (Air Experience Flying).

The crew would treat us to Northern Ireland tactical take-offs (take off then drop suddenly before regaining height - to avoid IRA Stinger missiles) and, in still, high-visibility weather, would climb to a safe height then feather the rotors and drop suddenly, making us weightless. Of course we were strapped into our seats but the Loadmaster wasn't and would perform astronaut-style somersaults. Every now and then the loadie would beckon one of us over and clip us in to the gunner's position so we could sit in the open doorway with our feet dangling out of the aircraft.

Soon after, an RAF Wessex full of Air Cadets crashed into a lake in Wales, tragically killing everyone but the crew. I had left the Corps by then, but I bet the accident put the blockers on any more "unofficial" helicopter flying.

That incident put the blockers on pretty much all Helo flights for Air Cadets and cadet forces as a whole, it's only in the past couple of years that flights have resumed. Even then the ATC don't fly as much as they should. Seems the ACF and us in the SCC/RMC fly more than the space cadets these days.

I remember the days of the De Havilland Chipmunk aircraft as the AEF aircraft of choice. frigging hell those things were scary :shock:

twist83

Some cool old planes.

With reference the rifles. That is not a Lee Enfield if my eyes do not deceive me. Looks more like a Mauser from a similar era. The Lee Enfield never had a groove on the forestock, it also has a metal banding just behind the trigger group running all round the rifle, also the stock and bolt are not a Lee enfield.

Any more pictures of it? Sorry I shoot and have a Lee Enfield in the cabinet at home. I also remember vaeguely Dad's FAL before the ban in 1998. Rather that above and his was the SLR L1A1 made under licence here. Ours only operated in Semi Auto mode and had the folding cocking handle.

I havent shot the Lee Enfield for months now. It has inspired me to take it out to the range on Friday.

mudcow007

twist83 wrote:

Some cool old planes.

With reference the rifles. That is not a Lee Enfield if my eyes do not deceive me. Looks more like a Mauser from a similar era. The Lee Enfield never had a groove on the forestock, it also has a metal banding just behind the trigger group running all round the rifle, also the stock and bolt are not a Lee enfield.

does the strap go through the stock on a mauser like in the picture though?

i didnt see any markings on the rifle but the bolt still worked, with lovely action

i shoot but only air guns

i reckon it could be a M27 Russian rifle?

twist83

I have limited Internet Access here but I reckon a Mosin Nagant. Which indeed is Russian Looking again it is fixed mag well fed where the Mauser is stripper clip loading from the top without. Never shot a Nagant for some reason. Lots about though.

As you said as well the Strap does not go through like that. A few Mausers have slots but not like that. It was the grooves in the forestock which made me think Mauser.

I have a No4 Mk2 which my Dad's dad owned, dad owned and now I do. It has been in the family since 1960. Still has a lovely action. If they are/were looked after then they are built so well they will go on for ever. Also have a very old Martini .22 which is as old as the hills. Again buttery smooth.

NGale

You will never know what fear is until you fly low in a helo over open water as you desperatly try and remember your 'dunker' training and hope you are close enough to the door to get out :shock: :shock: :shock:

DrLex

HebdenBiker wrote:

[...]The crew would treat us to Northern Ireland tactical take-offs (take off then drop suddenly before regaining height - to avoid IRA Stinger missiles) [...]

This seemed to be the standard MO of the Dash pilots going in and out of Belfast airport in the Eighties & early Nineties- old habits die hard?

Pantera_Standish

Blacktemplar wrote:

Oh wait......

hahahahahaha ... that's just cruel ......

Im going on a hiking n biking holiday to Switzerland in July.
Its myself and the better half, her (twin) sis and her hubby.

Me and other hubby have organised all of it, as it's the twins' 50th Birthday treat holiday.

We fly to zurich, train to interlaken, local trrain to Wilderswil then chopper into the Alps and eventually to Wengen.
Sooo looking forward to that chopper ride.
I've piloted fixed wing and gliders many times, but never had the pleasure of a whirly-chopper.